Cyril's secret deal with ‘rogue unit' executives

Nugent Commission suppressed affidavit that potentially compromised Ramaphosa

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA PLAYED A KEY role in a secret political intervention that allowed senior staff members at the South African Revenue Service involved with the infamous “rogue unit” to resign with millions in confidential settlements – and avoid exposure in disciplinary hearings.

Ivan Pillay, deputy commissioner and head of enforcement at SARS, walked away with around R4 million and a fat pension for life. Head of strategic planning and risk, Peter Richer, got R3.77m.

Ramaphosa’s role in the settlements is revealed by Luther Malesela Lebelo who, in 2015, when the alleged intervention took place was de facto No 2 to SARS’s then-commissioner Tom Moyane. The details of Ramaphosa’s involvement, unreported until now, lie buried in a 135-page supplementary affidavit filed by Lebelo last year with retired Judge Robert Nugent’s Commission of Inquiry into tax administration and governance by the SA Revenue Service.

Lebelo’s affidavit, unlike all the other evidence presented to the commission, does not appear on the commission’s website, on Judge Nugent’s instruction. Here it is worth noting that the judge was appointed to the commission by President Ramaphosa.

Lebelo submitted the document to Nugent on 23 November 2018, stating that it supplemented evidence he had already presented to the commission, including official SARS documents. These, said Lebelo, had been ignored. He claimed that his evidence was being deliberately suppressed. (See box story.)

When Ramaphosa intervened to speed the departures of Pillay and Richer with generous settlement deals funded by the taxpayer, he was the dutiful deputy to then-president Jacob Zuma. Assisting Ramaphosa in the SARS intervention, according to Lebelo’s affidavit, was then-deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas.