RAF board believes it’s raised morale among employees

The board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) believes it’s raised the morale among employees after claims before a parliamentary inquiry that they had been working in a "culture of fear" for the past five years under former CEO Collins Letsoalo.

Interim board chairperson Kenneth Brown said at least eight staffers who were dismissed will be brought back into the organisation.

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He’s told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) probing governance at the fund that board intervention to settle the organisational culture has also led to better interactions with the executive.

Brown said while the board is still trying to reconcile parallel appointments allegedly made by the former CEO with the organisational structure, it’s been at pains to address issues of the radical mass suspensions and dismissals that characterised the organisation’s recent past.

“The remuneration committee is firefighting now, dealing with suspensions making sure organisational structures are sorted out, the culture gets sorted out. They are nowhere near even [addressing] ethics.”

Still, Brown believes in the past six months, the board has also been able to instil a level of trust within the organisation.

“We have built a culture of confidence. These people that are sitting here can challenge us. We can challenge them. It’s open conversations.”

In what is scheduled to be the committee’s penultimate session, it will on Wednesday meet with Deputy Transport Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa and officials from the department.