Parliament cannot locate the former RAF CEO

Parliament’s inquiry into the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has exposed staggering dysfunction, and now MPs cannot even locate the fund’s former CEO, Collins Letsoalo, who is wanted to explain his role in major governance failures.

Speaking to SABC on 17 November, Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) chair Songezo Zibi confirmed that attempts to serve Letsoalo with a subpoena have failed, as he was unresponsive.

The address he previously used to communicate with Parliament turned out to be an abandoned house, with the sheriff finding no furniture, overgrown grass, and clear signs no one had lived there “for a while.”

A second address was also a dead end. If Letsoalo fails to appear, Parliament will lay criminal charges for defying a summons, an offence that could carry prison time.

The inquiry has uncovered far-reaching governance failures at the RAF, an entity that collects R48 billion in fuel levies annually. “Dysfunction is the right way to describe it, said Zibi. 

The RAF board recently placed its acting CEO, CFO, Chief Governance Officer and the Head of the CEO’s office on precautionary suspension.

One of the most alarming revelations, Zibi noted, is that a major change to the fund’s accounting policy, affecting 500,000 claimants, was implemented without any recorded executive meeting or board approval.

Suppliers were consulted and preparations were made before the RAF’s own governance structures had even discussed the decision.

SCOPA also heard that the RAF outsourced nearly R1 billion in procurement to two external companies, each awarded contracts worth R500 million, without examining invoices or questioning the spending.

This lack of oversight allowed suppliers to procure from relatives, friends, and at allegedly inflated prices.

On top of this, the RAF spent more than R100 million on disciplinary cases over the past five years, routinely using external lawyers and chairpersons who billed hourly rates.

Many employees remained on suspension for up to four years without being charged, while acting staff filled their posts, effectively doubling salary costs.

The committee also heard that the RAF’s decision to dismiss its panel of attorneys resulted in thousands of unattended court cases.

Current attorneys are each handling up to 5,000 matters, forcing them to appear in multiple courts simultaneously. When they can’t, the RAF either pays full costs for postponements or suffers inflated default judgments, adding billions to its liabilities.

Zibi said SCOPA has put measures in place to protect witnesses, including allowing key individuals to testify anonymously via virtual appearance, using pseudonyms with verification by Home Affairs and the SIU.

Despite intimidation concerns, he insisted the investigation will continue. SCOPA is expected to continue its hearings this week, with or without the former CEO.

Letsoalo, which the committee found had spent R23 million on bodyguards, has denied wrongdoing and called the probe “a witch-hunt by lawyers and the media.”