Durban’s S’bu and Shauwn Mpisane could gain access to their seized assets and disrupt an ongoing probe if a dispute between SARS and the curators it appointed to oversee the couple’s possessions is not settled, court papers have revealed. SARS and the curators – Henk Strydom and Tshifhiwa Mudzusi – are set to make their arguments in the KZN High Court (Durban) today.

Strydom and Mudzusi are looking to withdraw as curators because of non-payment by SARS, says a report in The Mercury. They have said that a new curator, Cloete Murray, was willing to take on the curatorship. Murray was last week named the court-appointed liquidator for African Global Operations, formerly Bosasa.

In affidavits filed with the court, Strydom and Mudzusi claimed that ‘SARS has not honoured the obligations’ or upheld its ‘financial commitment’ to pay them for the monthly costs of the preservation of assets. This had led to ‘an irreconcilable dispute and impasse’ between the curators and SARS.

The Mpisanes have been locked in a dispute with SARS over unpaid taxes dating back to 2008. According to Strydom’s affidavit, the Mpisanes owe SARS at least R141m. Liquidation of the couple’s companies is under way, as is their personal sequestration, subject to appeals.

The assets will likely be auctioned off by SARS to recoup funds.

Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)