Undoing a dark legacy
Ivan Pillay on KPMG’s ‘reparations’
Reparations have been offered to current and former Sars staff to right the wrongs of the Moyane era. But is it enough?
How does one count the cost of battered institutions, careers prematurely cut short, broken lives and a severely damaged country?Audit firm KPMG may have promised reparations to people hurt by its discredited and withdrawn "rogue unit" report, but restoring the integrity of institutions will have to go much deeper.That’s the view of former SA Revenue Service (Sars) deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay, who was directly affected by the capture of the tax agency — his life upturned, career ended. He weighed in this week on the issue of reparations raised by KPMG chair Wiseman Nkuhlu, welcoming the audit firm’s commitment but adding that the issue of reparations is far broader.KPMG has promised reparations for current and former Sars employees who were purged by former commissioner Tom Moyane after the report was published.Yet it seems nearly impossible to monetise the damage done — to individuals, institutions, their communities and the country.Pillay says: "The damage KPMG has done set th...
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