New RAF board gets flak from Parly for shielding 4 executives from accountability

Some members of Parliament (MPs) said it appeared Friday’s suspensions, which include the chief financial officer, were a deliberate move to shield them from accountability after the institution reported a deficit of R2.3 billion for the last financial year.

The new board of the Road Accident Fund has come in for harsh criticism from Parliament’s Transport Portfolio Committee for suspending four executives just days before they were due to appear before it to explain the fund’s latest financial statements.

Some members of Parliament (MPs) said it appeared Friday’s suspensions, which include the chief financial officer, were a deliberate move to shield them from accountability after the institution reported a deficit of R2.3 billion for the last financial year.

However, the board chairperson, Kenneth Brown said the board would have been derelict in its duty if it did not act when it did, given the maladministration it has uncovered.

On Friday, the RAF announced the precautionary suspensions of four top executives – including its acting CEO to allow unhindered investigations.

Slammed by MPs over the timing, Brown said the suspensions were a long time coming after the new board began uncovering what he has termed “egregious acts”.

“We don’t want to be seen just acting willy-nilly. It is not as if last week we just took a decision that we were going to do it.”

Brown has offered to return to the committee to reveal what the board’s investigations have found and that has prompted the suspensions.

“We will tell you the level of corruption that’s within this organisation. We will tell you the corrective steps that we are taking, we will give you the vision.”

The committee has also questioned the legality of appointing a former acting chief financial officer, Victor Songelwa, to return to the organisation as an interim chief executive officer.

Last month, Songelwa told parliament’s inquiry into maladministration at the fund that he had allegedly been sidelined by the former CEO, Collins Letsoalo, and forced to leave the organisation several months before his contract expired in September.

Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana said the sequence of suspensions and appointments did not add up.