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Tom Moyane says Jacob Zuma told him a year in advance he would be Sars boss

Mawande AmaShabalala Political journalist
Former tax boss Tom Moyane had never revealed that he had a private conversation with former president Jacob Zuma about the top job at Sars until he filed his affidavit at the state capture inquiry. File image.
Former tax boss Tom Moyane had never revealed that he had a private conversation with former president Jacob Zuma about the top job at Sars until he filed his affidavit at the state capture inquiry. File image.
Image: Veli Nhlapo

Former SA Revenue Service (Sars) boss Tom Moyane on Wednesday told the state capture inquiry that former president Jacob Zuma told him “in confidence” a year in advance that he was his preferred candidate to head the tax collection agency.

Zuma told Moyane this in 2013, saying he would be the new Sars head as long as the ANC won the general elections the following year and Zuma returned for a second term.

The ANC emerged victorious and Zuma was re-elected president, paving the way for Moyane’s appointment. 

He was asked: why you and what was special about you when 120 people had applied for the job?

“Because I was an economist. I am an economist,” said Moyane.

He said he could not read Zuma’s mind regarding why he decided Moyane was the best fit to lead Sars, other than suspecting it had to do with his “track record that spoke volumes” wherever he had led before that.

Moyane had never revealed that he had a private conversation with Zuma about the Sars top job until March this year when he filed his affidavit at the state capture inquiry.

He said he kept this information between himself and his wife. 

“Was your appointment a result of a competitive process, in your understanding?” asked the inquiry’s chairperson, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo. 

“I would not know whether there were a number of other people he [Zuma] was considering,” said Moyane.

“The rationale and thinking lies with him [Zuma]. If he were to come here I think he is the correct person to answer.”

TimesLIVE

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