New RAF on the road

CHANGE OF GUARD: SUSPENDED CEO LETSOALO'S CONTRACT IS UP

- Roy Cokayne

Controversial suspended Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo is no longer employed by the fund, and an interim RAF board has been appointed. This follows the dissolution of the previous board due to its failure to act in the best interests of the RAF and to fulfil its fiduciary duties.

Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy on Friday confirmed this, and that she had written to both President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to ask that they expand the scope of the SIU's investigation into the RAF.

Creecy said this follows whistle-blower reports given to her and Deputy Minister of Transport Mkhuleko Hlengwa by parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chair Songezo Zibi.

Letsoalo's term of contract as RAF CEO expired last Wednesday and Creecy confirmed to Moneyweb "he's gone".

Letsoalo was suspended by the now dissolved RAF board in June this year for alleged insubordination for refusing to attend a Scopa meeting and thereafter launched an unsuccessful urgent high court application to overturn his suspension.

Hlengwa said the department of transport had a contractual relationship with Letsoalo and "that contract has run its course".

He added what remains is for the SIU investigations into the RAF to proceed. It was up to the SIU to determine whether there are issues that Letsoalo needs to answer.

Hlengwa said the proclamation the SIU received from the Presidency goes up to 2021, but issues have subsequently arisen out of that investigation that occurred after 2021.

"We therefore need to expand the timeframe in which they can investigate. It's all the substantive issues that are there – the payments, the contingent liabilities, the issues around the panel of attorneys and the complaints.