Dissolution of the Road Accident Fund board welcomed

MINISTER of Transport Barbara Creecy’s decision to dissolve the board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been welcomed by the Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and others.

- MASHUDU SADIKE [e-mail]

The RAF has faced financial and administrative instability in recent years, including the suspension of its CEO, Collins Letsoalo, due to alleged corruption and his failure to appear before Scopa.

The entity, funded entirely by South African motorists through the fuel levy, has an annual revenue of over R50 billion.

According to Creecy, the dissolution was necessitated by persistent governance and operational challenges at the RAF, which included protracted and costly litigation pursued by the RAF on what accounting standards the entity should use. Another matter raised was the inconsistent handling of the suspension of the CEO.

Other reasons included the frequent incurrence of default judgments against the RAF, deep divisions within the board, and failure to fill critical executive positions like a Chief Claims Officer and Head of Legal.

Chairperson of Scopa, Songezo Zibi, warned that the dissolved board had to be replaced with one that is capable.