Editorial: Keep shady doings in SARS out in the open

04 October 2015 - 02:00 By Sunday Times

The Sunday Times often finds itself assailed by critics and rightly so when we err in our reporting. But there are times when the assaults are personalised and the assailants form a convenient club of malcontents aggrieved by real or imagined slights or hurts. The matter of the South African Revenue Service is one such stark example. When this newspaper's investigative unit uncovered a covert intelligence unit within the revenue service, some of its officials and other media outlets insisted that an alternative narrative existed to the one we published.Moreover, this alternative narrative cast aspersions on the integrity of this newspaper and its reporters. We were accused of being cynically manipulated as part of a plot that sought to bring down good men and women who had sacrificed their lives for South Africa's liberation struggle.Yet, even as we continued to report on the existence of the rogue unit, our articles were being corroborated from three independent quarters - a report by Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, an advisory board under the leadership of retired judge Frank Kroon and now a report by auditing firm KPMG.story_article_left1All three have been unequivocal about their findings - that former deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay should be held accountable for establishing an unlawful unit that operated with intelligence functions.The KPMG report - on which we report today - asks that Pravin Gordhan explain how he could not have known what was happening under his watch, first as SARS commissioner and then as finance minister.So where to from here?Expect no praise for our reporters who exposed the unit. Instead, expect a continuation of the unwarranted attacks and insinuations.There are efforts under way to have the KPMG report classified as top secret, meaning we were never to know the full contents of the document. This action needs to be explained and, in the interest of rebuilding SARS and accepting that bad things can happen even in the most respected institutions, the report should be made public.For it is only when the full truth is known that commissioner Tom Moyane will be able to ensure that this vital institution continues with the work that has justifiably garnered local and international praise. Exposing the rogue unit and cleaning up the elements of rot within SARS will allow a new chapter of accountability in the offices of the taxman...

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