Oupa Magashula has been appointed acting commissioner at the South African Revenue Service (Sars), spokesperson Adrian Lackay said on Monday.

The position became vacant on Sunday when former Sars commissioner Pravin Gordhan was appointed Finance Minister by President Jacob Zuma.

"Pravin Gordhan remains commissioner until 3pm later today [Monday] when he is sworn in as Minister of Finance.

"The acting commissioner will then take up his duties," Lackay said.

Cabinet and the President would appoint a permanent commissioner on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, he said.

"I have no idea when that will be," Lackay said.

Magashula was last month appointed one of three deputy commissioners at Sars as part of transitional planning, Lackay said.

Magashula has been with Sars since 2006 and prior to becoming acting commissioner headed an operational division responsible for contact centres, processing centres and delivery enablement services such as process engineering and information management.

Prior to this, he was head of human resources and other corporate services.

In the early eighties, Magashula was employed at a trade union and studied for a BSc at the University of Cape Town.

Magashula has worked in the private sector in operations and human resources - at Nampak, Sun International and Anglo Vaal Industries.

Prior to Sars, he was HR director at Telkom.