Former SA Revenue Service spokesperson Adrian Lackay is set to give his third day of testimony on Wednesday, at a CCMA arbitration hearing.
Lackay revealed on Tuesday that senior SARS employees and the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) planned to “spike” a story the Mail & Guardian was due to publish on the alleged relationship between SARS commissioner Tom Moyane and President Jacob Zuma.
He felt he was sidelined and excluded from getting information on serious events. Ordinarily, the communications department would work as a team and he would be the key person for media and communications.
It was highly unusual for his deputy to be consulted without him on a matter of such importance, Lackay said.
He previously argued that his working conditions became unbearable amid allegations by Moyane that an illegal, “rogue” spy unit had been set up by senior SARS officials.
Lackay, who was employed for 11 years at SARS, has claimed he was forced to leave after it became “untenable” to associate himself with the goings-on at the revenue service.
He resigned in February 2015. He wants the CCMA to award him financial compensation. He would not say how much.
Despite CCMA hearings traditionally being closed to the public, the media was granted access following a successful application lodged by Media24 and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The order was granted in the public interest after the media were barred from the preliminary hearing in September 2015. Lackay had not opposed the media application, although SARS had objected.
[Source: News24]
