By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former SA Receiver of Services (SARS) commissioner Oupa Magashula has passed away after a long illness, his family confirmed in a statement.
Magashula was 63 years old.
“Magashula died on Wednesday night, He will be remembered for his humility, warmth and unwavering commitment to South Africa and its people. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, colleague and friend whose generosity of spirit touched countless lives “reads the statement.
Magashula was appointed as Sars commissioner in 2008 and resigned in 2013 after an investigation into claims that he offered a woman a job at Sars without following procedure.
In 2010, Magashula was recorded offering the CA, over a phone call, a R700 000 job, while noting that, as a 28-year old, she should be earning over a million. He also offered that Sars would pay KPMG, her employer at the time, to let her go if she did not transfer within a month.
The call, which had been facilitated by a convicted drug dealer Timothy Marimuthu, sparked speculation that the recording was part of a blackmail scheme.
Then finance minister Pravin Gordhan said there was no evidence of him having committed a crime, but he had placed Sars’ reputation at risk.
Prior to this he was head of Human Resources and Corporate Services.
In the early eighties he worked for a trade union, studied for a BSc at the University of Cape Town and later management courses at the UCT Business School.
He has worked in the private sector both in operations and HR – Nampak, Sun International and Anglo Vaal Industries. Prior to SARS, he was HR Director at Telkom.