The North Gauteng High Court has set aside Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report into the so-called SARS rogue unit. The court issued a punitive costs order against Mkhwebane and described her conduct as “egregious”.

The Public Protector had found that former SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan, had inadvertently misled Parliament by failing to disclose a meeting he had with members of the Gupta family, and that he had violated intelligence laws by overseeing the establishment of an “intelligence unit” at SARS in 2007, also known as the rogue unit.

The High Court found that Mkhwebane relied on “discredited” reports to formulate her findings, and that she displayed a “manifest bias” toward Minister Gordhan and former SARS executive, Ivan Pillay.