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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Friday 29 March 2024

Moyane lodges 'do-or-die' ConCourt bid

Former SARS boss Tom Moyane has filed papers to go back to the Constitutional Court after his attempt to get direct access to the court was dismissed in November. The application for leave to appeal is against a recent Gauteng High Court judgment dismissing his application to stop President Cyril Ramaphosa from appointing a permanent replacement and prevent retired Judge Robert Nugent from releasing a final report on the state of the tax agency. The ruling by Judge Hans Fabricius cleared the way for Ramaphosa to appoint a new commissioner, notes BusinessLIVE. Moyane has asked the court to hear the appeal application, cutting out applications to a full Bench in the High Court or the SCA. As part of the reasons cited in his affidavit for not going the traditional route of appeal, Moyane argued that the matter deserved urgent and final determination; that there was only nine months left of his five-year contract; and that it involved multiple and complex constitutional issues. The imminent appointment of his successor was also cited. Moyane was axed by Ramaphosa on 1 November. In the founding affidavit before the Constitutional Court, Moyane’s lawyer Eric Mabuza said Fabricius, who labelled the former SARS Commissioner’s conduct throughout the proceedings as ‘abominable’ and ‘reprehensible’, had erred in his judgment in ‘many respects’. He cited, among other things, Fabricius’ interpretation of case law, as well as the tone of the judgment. Mabuza also said the judge erred in making a finding that the only interest Moyane had in his application was personal and financial. ’The overwhelming and objective evidence’ showed that Moyane was also ‘asserting a plethora of other legitimate rights and interests’, which included the rule of law, rationality, a right to a fair hearing and the rule against bias, he said.