RAF interim board to face Parly on decisions made by its predecessors

With only days to go before its term ends, the interim board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) will have to face Parliament on Tuesday on decisions made by its predecessors.

This includes the millions of rands it has spent in wasteful expenditure, employee litigation and governance decisions.

On Friday, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) paid a visit to the RAF’s Parktown office in Johannesburg, for a first-hand determination of how the claims process is being handled and how claimants feel about the experience.

SCOPA is heading to its final weeks of witness testimony, with it still having failed to secure the appearance of the fund’s former CEO, Collins Letsoalo, despite Parliament issuing two subpoenas in 2025.

On Tuesday, it’s the turn of the interim board, appointed by Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy for only six months.

On Friday, board chairperson Neeshan Balton said that to date, the board had only just begun to stabilise the organisation.

“Unfortunately, our term as an interim board ends on 8 February. I don’t know what the intentions of the minister are, and who will come in and when.”

The committee said it wants the board to explain a R1 billion media contract it began probing in 2025, as well as the more than 50 employees placed on suspension for almost four years, costing the fund R119 million in legal expenses.

SCOPA also wants to know the status of litigation against the Auditor General over the change in its accounting standard aimed at limiting the fund’s liabilities and to avoid insolvency.

The fund is also currently defending a legal challenge to its new claims form, which has made it more difficult for road accident victims to submit a compliant claim.