Sars chief officer for digital and IT, Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane, has been heavily criticised following her appearance in an SABC TV interview this morning.

Makhekhe-Mokhuane was on SABC News to speak about reports that it will cost R1 billion to fix problems with Sars’ IT systems.

The Mail and Guardian reported earlier this week it will cost R1 billion to fix problems with Sars’ IT systems.

The report added that R200 million previously paid to Gartner to overhaul Sars’ IT systems was “not worth” the money spent.

This resulted in the IT issues Sars sits with at the moment, which includes a possible crash of the e-filing system in the coming years.

In the interview, however, Makhekhe-Mokhuane deflected questions by stating she only joined Sars in 2017. She did this on several occasions.

When Makhekhe-Mokhuane then started speaking about Sars bursaries for students and the outsourcing of cleaning employees, the interviewer tried to get her back on track by stating they were talking about IT restructuring.

Makhekhe-Mokhuane replied to this by stating: “Mam, can you give me protection from yourself.”

Many South Africans took to Twitter to question Makhekhe-Mokhuane’s competence and how she conducted herself in the interview.

Sars states that Makhekhe-Mokhuane is a seasoned IT professional with IT diplomas and an MBA from the University of North West.

She has previously held the position of Chief Information Officer at the Department of Transport, Department of Communications, and the Department of Water and Sanitation, said Sars.

TV interview

The SABC TV interview is embedded below.