RAF weighs court battle withdrawal with AG

THE Road Accident Fund (RAF) is considering withdrawing its contentious court case involving a dispute with the Auditor-General over the accounting standards.

- MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

This emerged when the board of the RAF, the executives, and Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Transport at a marathon meeting on Wednesday night.

The entity has prepared court papers to be lodged with the Constitutional Court after the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) turned down their petition following the Pretoria High Court decision that dismissed RAF's application to review and set aside the A-G's 2020/21 disclaimer audit report.

It undertook the legal action despite the Transport Department instructing it to find a solution to the dispute that was sparked by an audit finding that its use of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards 42 was inappropriate and significantly different from the South African Standards of Generally Recognised Accounting Practice.

Briefing the committee on Wednesday night, board chairperson Zanele Francois said the board was looking at options to exit the court proceedings.

"We were given 21 days to do a risk assessment and impact analysis so that if we go out of court and find other amicable ways to resolve the problem," Francois said.

She also said the Transport Ministry was willing to work with the RAF once they had done the proper risk assessment and impact analysis.