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The EFF notes and welcome the immediate resignation of Jonas Makwakwa from the South African Revenue Services (SARS). Makwakwa's failure to uphold the moral and ethical standards required as a senior official at SARS has brought the institution into serious disrepute, subsequently damaging the long held credibility by citizens over the few months that the matter remained unresolved.

The payments traced by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) remain unaccounted for and unresolved as a criminal matter, more than a labour relation matter of declaration between the SARS and Makwakwa as an employee. We call on the law enforcement agencies and relevant authorities including SARS to make necessary follow ups; the law must be applied to its latter.

The EFF further call for the resignation of the Commissioner Tom Moyane for consistently protecting the money launderer. The Commissioner will not do anything to assist SARS and should find it within his heart to step down with immediate effect. The Commissioner's continued stay at the helm of SARS will hamper revenue collection as already illustrated in the shortfall of R48.2 billion as announced by Minister Nene.

SARS is an instrumental and critical institution for the state to be able to collect money to deliver much needed services. For SARS to successfully collect maximum tax, public trust is extremely important. People must have confidence in the institution, and a belief that the institution that collect their monies for public purse can be trusted.

As such it is important that as we look to rebuilding the institutions in terms of capacity, development of sophisticated policy to deal with illicit financial flows, base erosion and profit shifting, and accountability measures, SARS must work hard to earn the public trust, and it can only happen with credible and capable management and leadership at its helm.

Issued by EFF