Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. (Clarissa Sosin, M&G)
It was unfortunate that suspended trade union federation Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi discussed his tax affairs on social networking platforms, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Wednesday.
"Sars seeks to apply the tax and customs laws it administers with fairness, in a transparent and even-handed manner without any external influence," spokesperson Adrian Lackay said.
"No single person in Sars can decide who to investigate, who to audit, who to settle tax debts with and who not to … There is absolutely no legal basis for Sars to target any taxpayer for political reasons."
Lackay was responding to comments on Twitter about Sars investigating Vavi, saying Sars would not make public comments on Vavi's tax affairs.
One Twitter user suggested that President Jacob Zuma would sic "his dogs, Sars" on Vavi if he continued opposing e-tolls in Gauteng.
At 9am on Tuesday, Vavi tweeted:
Twitter user Aphiwe Mazelem said:
At 12.18pm Vavi replied:
At around 2.51pm Vavi tweeted:
Lackay said it was unfortunate that people turned to social media platforms to speak about their taxes.
"It is unfortunate that high-profile public figures in this country use social media platforms to try and conjure up conspiracies about their tax positions," he said.
"Any taxpayer is legally entitled to raise any tax issue directly with Sars at any level of the organisation in order to resolve a tax dispute."
He said there were far more constructive and preferred ways to raise tax issues than making public statements to the media.
Lackay said Sars interacted with more than two million taxpayers every year through various methods of communication.
Special leave
Cosatu placed Vavi on special leave in August after he said he had an affair with a colleague.
"After lengthy discussion, the [central executive committee] meeting agreed to conduct a full investigation into the allegations and to ask both the general secretary and the staff member to attend disciplinary hearings," Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini told reporters in August.
"The meeting insisted that everybody involved must be treated equally and that the process will be conducted in a free and fair manner, in full compliance with the Cosatu constitution."
Cosatu's central executive committee met in Johannesburg earlier that week to decide on possible sanctions against Vavi for the affair.
Attempts by Vavi's supporters, including the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Food and Allied Workers' Union, to cancel the sitting of the special central executive committee, which they claimed to be unconstitutional, failed. The two unions argued unsuccessfully that Cosatu needed to take the mandate from its members before the decision to suspend Vavi was effected.
The report of the previous commission of inquiry into him recommended that Cosatu should take action against Vavi as the federation had a strong case against him.
Vavi's supporters say his enemies are using the sex scandal to remove him from Cosatu because of his critical views on President Jacob Zuma and his administration. – Additional reporting by M&G reporters