Personal security arranged for ex-RAF CEO Letsoalo despite no threats against him, SCOPA told

The Road Accident Fund (RAF)’s former security head has told Parliament that personal security was arranged for former CEO, Collins Letsoalo, despite the police determining there was no threat against his life.

Matome Lehomo, the first witness at the inquiry of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, has put the cost of this security, which included two personal protectors, a driver and a hired vehicle, at around R1.8 million a year.

According to Lehomo, this was four times the amount approved by the board.

Testifying in tandem at the inquiry on Tuesday are the RAF’s former national security manager, Matome Lehomo, and former manager for physical security, Muntu Mhlanga. 

They said they were both dismissed under dubious circumstances after being sidelined from security matters at the fund when Letsoalo was appointed as RAF CEO in 2020.

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Lehomo said the SAPS conducted a threat assessment on Letsoalo at the time.

"In terms of this report that they issued, the indication was that there is no direct threat against the former RAF chief executive officer."

But Lehomo said he was instructed to obtain a private security assessment after Letsoalo’s car was broken into in Pretoria.

Lehomo has further testified that a PRASA official, Stephen Msiza, was parachuted into the CEO's personal office in 2021 as a security specialist on secondment and started to call the shots.

"This person just walked in, and then he wanted to know what’s the status of the security of the CEO. Why is the CEO not having security? What are the delays?"

Msiza remains employed at the RAF.
 
The inquiry continues.