Creecy acts against RAF

MINISTER: DISSOLVES BOARD, INTERVENES TO SAFEGUARD ENTITY'S INTEGRITY

- Roy Cokayne

The board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been dissolved by Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy.

Creecy on Tuesday also announced five specific interventions to safeguard the integrity of the RAF and ensure the continuity of its operations, including a request to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to establish whether its current investigation into the fund covers the events of the past three months - and if not, to formally request the expansion of the scope of this investigation to cover these events.

Creecy told Moneyweb that this will cover new matters that parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) chair Songezo Zibi wrote to her about. "The response from the SIU in this regard is eagerly awaited," she said.

The department of transport said on Tuesday the dissolution of the RAF board and interventions follow persistent governance and operational challenges that have beset the RAF and significantly undermined its ability to discharge its statutory mandate.

Inquiry, suspensions

The governance and other issues resulted in Scopa deciding last month to launch a full committee inquiry into allegations of maladministration, financial mismanagement, wasteful and reckless expenditure and related financial misconduct at the fund.

RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo was suspended last month for insubordination over his alleged failure to attend a Scopa meeting.

RAF acting chief investment officer Sefotle Modiba was placed on precautionary suspension due to concerns regarding his previous employment at the City of Joburg and other matters that are currently under investigation.

The department said Creecy issued letters to the 11 members of the RAF board on 5 June.