The shame that has stalked the SA Revenue Service’s IT executive, Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane, since she bumbled her way through testimony to the Nugent Commission continues unabated with the news this morning that she has been suspended.
Her suspension is the fourth by Edward Kieswetter since he took over from caretaker-commissioner Mark Kingon.
Kieswetter’s predecessor started the clean-up operations following years of state-capture enablement under disgraced former commissioner Tom Moyane, when he suspended then legal services head, Refiloe Mokoena, for her role in arranging a R420-million tax refund for the notorious Gupta family.
The corruption at Sars that retired judge Robert Nugent has exposed has also shone a light on the wheeling and dealing of Moyane lieutenants Luther Lebelo, Hlengani Mathebula and Teboho Mokoena.
Respectively group executive of employee relations, chief officer of governance, international relations, strategy and communication, they have all since been shown the door by Kieswetter.
But it’s the rank incompetence displayed by Makhekhe-Mokhuane during her turn before the commission that showed how efficiencies and governance at Sars were allowed to deteriorate and be deliberately derailed under Moyane.
Political editor Genevieve Quintal has reported that Makhekhe-Mokhuane “was forced to apologise for her testimony after she could not answer basic questions.
“Nugent recommended in his final report that the new commissioner hire a more suitably qualified person to replace Makhekhe-Mokhuane.”
