EFF says Jacob Zuma not to blame for taxman's mess
Image: THULI DLAMINI
Who would have thought we'd live to see the day when the EFF defends Jacob Zuma in anything? That was the response by many after the EFF defended the former president, when it was insinuated by journalist Ferial Haffajee that the troubles at the SA Revenue Service (Sars) began during his presidential terms.
Haffajee sparked a debate on social media after she shared a link to one of her reports from 2017, where she alleged that former Sars commissioner Ivan Pillay's troubles started when he questioned Zuma about his tax affairs.
In her report, she detailed Zuma's four previous encounters with Sars and how Tom Moyane was installed as the new commissioner at that time.
BusinessDay reported last year that Moyane was axed from the service after retired judge Robert Nugent made damning findings against him.
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In Zuma's defence, EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee rejected Haffajee's suggestions, saying that the problems for Pillay were mainly because he wasn't properly qualified for the job.
"Problems started when without a matric he became a senior Sars official, established a parallel intelligence unit and lastly when he stole his pension (we all want that arrangement) and got himself re-employed again by Sars without advertisement of his post," he said.