SARS under Moyane is real 'rogue unit' - Pityana
Pretoria - Under the leadership of Tom Moyane, the SA Revenue Service has become a "rogue unit", says convenor of Save SA, Sipho Pityana.
"It is my firm belief that Tom Moyane is the real commander in chief of the 'rogue unit' that today runs SARS, and for that he must be punished," said Pityana.
"Tom Moyane is increasingly emerging as a key figure in the state capture project. He is a facilitator of crime and corruption and a national disgrace."
Pityana was speaking on Thursday night during the launch of a book titled Rogue: The inside story of SARS’s elite crime-busting unit by former employees Johan Van Loggerenberg and Adrian Lackay.
Pityana added that under Moyane’s stewardship the organisation had become a national disgrace, and called for his arrest.
He claimed Moyane had been fingered as having a role in the landing of a plane full of guests for a Gupta family wedding at Waterkloof Air Force Base in 2013.
"It is unequivocally clear that we have a problem and, because he is [the] problem, he must go. He must go to jail.
"Lest we forget that Moyane is alleged to be a key player in the events around the Gupta wedding. He was also a key player in the Zuma-appointed team to investigate the violation of our sovereignty at Waterkloof. We all know that investigation was a complete whitewash. It was clear from that day on that Moyane was captured," he claimed.
Lackay echoed Pityana’s sentiments and said the organisation had been on a downward spiral since the appointment of Moyane in 2014. He said they approached Moyane about the articles that were being published involving the so called "rogue unit" and asked him to defend the institution, but he did not do that.
"We told him, 'you need to challenge these things, they are hurting the institution. Why are we doing nothing to defend the institution?' Nada, no answer, no action.
"We were told to stop all efforts to present facts to him. All doors were closed and he suspended his entire executive within six weeks of assuming office. That was the start of it," said Lackay.
Worst ANC president ever will be removed
Pityana says the ANC’s worst president ever will be removed, and that the country needs to prepare for a post-President Jacob Zuma era.
"It is easy to bog down when analysing when and how president Zuma will be removed as president - as surely he will be removed," said Pityana.
"Whether your personal preference is a regime change or a call of the ANC National Executive Committee, or a swift flight into exile in Dubai, I strongly believe it is only a matter of time before we are rid of the man who holds the title of the ANC’s worst president ever - the commander and chief of corruption in our nation."
Pityana said he would use all the strength he had in his body to realise a South Africa that is not led by Zuma.
'Post-Zuma South Africa'
On Thursday, Zuma survived another motion of no confidence in Parliament.
"I will work hard, sparing neither strength nor energy, daring the most vicious of my enemies to make sure I see the day Jacob Zuma goes down. I will celebrate as enthusiastically as I did the demise of the apartheid regime and that day is not very far and I hope you will join me,” Pityana said.
He said the removal of Zuma should not be the end of the journey, but merely the beginning of a road to leaders with morals.
"We cannot stop there. Tonight as the momentum against Zuma and his [followers]... gather steam, I believe the reality is to focus our attention on the pathology of a post-Zuma South Africa.
"In the same way we spoke of a post-apartheid South Africa, as SARS was starting its transformation journey in the mid 1990s, we need to speak of the post-Zuma South Africa to ensure we are equipped to avoid making the same mistakes," said Pityana.
He added that the citizens of the country had to become actively involved in the running of the country, so as to hold those in power accountable.
"It is not enough to get rid of Jacob Zuma and then relax. We have to make sure we never again have a situation where we put the interest of our leaders before the interests of our democratic project and before the interest of the country as a whole," he said.
'President Zuma is like a stuck record'
Pityana has accused Zuma of failing to put the interests of the country first, but rather focusing on his own personal gains and that of his party.
"President Zuma is like a stuck record: He can’t understand that as a leader it’s the country first and everything after. He thinks that it’s the ANC first then the country next. I suspect if pressed a little harder, it will be his wives first, maybe his children first, then ANC and others," he said.
Pityana said it was important for the country to clearly define the characteristics of a post-Zuma era leadership. He said it did not matter which political party the individual came from, but standards and rules had to be set for all to follow.
"We need to set clear parameters and measure any potential leaders against those values. We need to speak up not when it’s late but all the time. We need to ring fence the next generation of South African leaders from contamination, corruption or capture. We need to make sure that there is no room to move. We need to hold them to account day after day," he said.
