For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headines: Sars apologises to employees affected by ‘Rogue Unit’ narrative, High Court quashes Mkhwebane's final report on Gordhan, as she suffers 39th legal defeat and, truck drivers arrested for theft of Eskom coal

Sars apologises to employees affected by ‘Rogue Unit’ narrative

The South African Revenue Service  has issued a “heartfelt” apology to former employees affected by the organisation’s State capture years, and has reached a settlement with them.

The settlement give effect to one of the recommendations of the Nugent Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance by Sars which found that there had been a massive failure of integrity and governance at Sars under the tenure of former Sars Commissioner Tom Moyane.

On Friday Sars announced that it has settled with former employees who were adversely affected between 2014 and 2018.

This also comes after the Constitutional Court finally ended, after years of litigation at the cost of taxpayers, suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's attempts to appeal the invalidation of her so-called Sars ‘rogue unit’ report.

Sars has paid, what it calls, “fair and reasonable pecuniary compensation” for the infringement of the participants’ personality rights as well as compensation for any loss of employment during this time.  

High Court quashes Mkhwebane's final report on Gordhan, as she suffers 39th legal defeat

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has invalidated suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's final report on Minister Pravin Gordhan, quashing her investigation into a South African Revenue Service IT contract.

The Office of the Public Protector did not attempt to defend Mkhwebane's report on Sars' appointment of IT company BB&D in 2007, which was already found to have been above board by, among other investigations, the Nugent Inquiry.

As a result, it was declared invalid and unlawful, reviewed and set aside.

This is the 39th report by Mkhwebane to be overturned, with 47 of her investigations currently facing legal challenges.

Truck drivers arrested for theft of Eskom coal

Two truck drivers contracted to Eskom were arrested at Kendal Power Station after they were found in possession of stolen coal.

Eskom said the drivers were arrested on Wednesday night and a criminal case of theft of coal was registered with the police.

The trucks, belonging to an ash-transporting company contracted to Eskom, were stopped by security personnel conducting vehicle inspections when the coal was discovered.

Last month, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said extraordinarily high coal prices have made it extra lucrative for some suppliers to swindle the utility by stealing Eskom coal, replacing it with discard coal, and exporting the utility's coal to Europe.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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