CAPE TOWN – The Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu has found that the South African Revenue Service (Sars) again breached the law when it paid management staff bonuses of more than R4 million without the finance minister’s permission.
The information is revealed in Sars’ annual report for 2017/18, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
The fresh breach took place while Tom Moyane was still in charge at Sars before his suspension earlier this year.
In the 2016/17 financial year, Sars was also taken to task by Makwetu for paying executive committee members R3 million in bonuses without ministerial approval.
Noting serious internal control deficiencies, the Auditor-General says effective steps weren’t taken to prevent the irregular expenditure of R4,352 million.
This is the amount paid out in bonuses to Sars management during the 2017/18 financial year without the finance minister’s approval when Moyane was still in charge before his suspension in March this year.
Makwetu further notes a failure by Sars to comply with supply chain management regulations, saying contracts were extended during 2016 without Treasury’s go-ahead.
Makwetu says these transgressions resulted in “material non-compliance” with relevant legislation.
Sars, which now has acting commissioner Mark Kingon at the helm, has asked Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene to condone the irregular expenditure incurred and will ask for ministerial approval before awarding future executive bonuses.
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