IVAN Pillay, who has been appointed acting commissioner to plug the gap left by disgraced South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Oupa Magashula, is an old communist of note who seems instinctively attracted to the shadows rather than the limelight.According to SARS, he has not granted an interview to the press for as long as anyone can remember and will not break this habit for the Sunday Times now.But for politics, Mr Pillay would probably have got the top job when Pravin Gordhan left to head the Treasury a few years back.He was one of four deputy commissioners appointed in 2009, supposedly in the name of succession planning when it became known that Gordhan would be leaving.Edward Kieswetter, Kosie Louw and Magashula were the others. Kieswetter (who became CEO of Alexander Forbes), Louw (head of the legal and policy division and a technical wizard) and Mr Pillay were all considered more competent and qualified for the top job than Magashula, but they were coloured, whit...
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