It's Gordhan Versus Zuma in `Game of Chicken' Over Treasury
- Finance minister says tax chief's actions `unacceptable'
- Gordhan likely to lose: University of Cape Town's Schrire
This article is for subscribers only.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s criticism of the nation’s tax agency chief, who’s supported by President Jacob Zuma, is the latest blow in a deepening power struggle over control of the National Treasury.
Gordhan said on Friday that Tom Moyane, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Zuma appointed in 2014, showed “totally unacceptable” behavior by defying orders to halt a management and systems overhaul. He threatened to resign after Zuma told him that Moyane should keep his post, Johannesburg’s Business Day newspaper reported, citing unidentified government sources. Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Majola issued a statement expressing “full confidence” in Gordhan.