By Roy Cokyane.
The scheduled showdown today between former Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo and parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) inquiry into maladministration at the financially distressed fund failed to happen.
Letsoalo failed to pitch up at Scopa’s inquiry, leading to Scopa member Alan Beesley of Action SA claiming Letsoalo has “shown Parliament a middle finger” and he supported the full might of the law being taken in this matter.
This followed Scopa member Patrick Atkinson from the Democratic Alliance (DA) stating that the committee now had no other choice but to lay criminal charges against Letsoalo for not appearing before the committee.
After about an hour of discussions between committee members, Scopa chair Songezo Zibi adjourned the inquiry.
Zibi said Scopa members should hang around the Parliamentary precinct at least until after 12 noon today in case Letsoalo arrived.
He added that Parliament legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim will make yet another attempt by phone and email to get hold of Letsoalo’s attorneys and Scopa members will be updated after the close of business today if anything has been received from them.
Zibi stressed to members that they must at some point think about the precedent the committee is setting “because what we allow [Letsoalo], everybody else is entitled to it and Parliament will be paralysed for good”.
“It’s important that we apply the power that we have appropriately without being overzealous with it but at a point where we need to apply it, people need to know that Parliament is not a ‘clown show’ and when people are supposed to come here, they do.
“We have bent over backwards [for Letsoalo], but I’m okay that we do, so that when we then take action, nobody can say ‘you never gave me a chance, you were never clear, I didn’t know, you didn’t take all reasonable steps’.
“I’m making this additional suggestion so that we have a big record of us attempting to give Mr Letsoalo an opportunity to make his own representations before the committee.
“But… I really think it’s important for us to recognise the power that Parliament has supposed have and apply it without prejudice,” he said.]
Doubts have been cast about the authenticity of a six-page letter dated 20 November 2025 that was allegedly sent to Scopa chair Songezo Zibi by attorneys apparently representing Letsoalo, which formally demanded that the committee “cease and desist from unlawful ‘oversight inquiry’ into the Road Accident Fund” and Letsoalo.
Zibi told Moneyweb on Monday the committee has not received any letter from Letsoalo’s attorneys, although “we have seen what is purported to be one circulating on WhatsApp groups”.
The letter demands that Scopa:
- Immediately terminate all proceedings relating to the RAF under the current inquiry;
- Refrain from issuing any summons or subpoena to Letsoalo pursuant to an unlawful process;
- Ensure that parliament establishes a lawfully-empowered structure should any further inquiry be legitimately required;
- Withdraw all defamatory statements made about Letsoalo; and
- Issue a formal written public apology for the unlawful disclosure of his residential address, acknowledge the resulting compromise of his personal security and cease any further dissemination of that address.
However, Zibi confirmed that the summons remains in force, and the committee will meet on Tuesday “to wait for him”.
“If he does not arrive, the committee will decide on its next steps. One option is to report him for criminal investigation.”
Committee maintains summons
Scopa made several unsuccessful attempts to get Letsoalo to voluntarily appear before the committee, after which it adopted a resolution to summons him.
It reported on Friday that he was summonsed on 5 November 2025 to appear before the committee on Tuesday.
Scopa said the sheriff made several attempts to serve the summons at Letsoalo’s known addresses, but was unsuccessful.
It said the summons has since been reissued by the Secretary to Parliament so that it can additionally be served electronically on several platforms, including parliament’s website, its X account, Instagram account, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
RAF’s fiscal position
The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) said the RAF remains a significant fiscal risk and its financial position is expected to deteriorate over the medium term.
The RAF’s liabilities are projected to increase from R369.7 billion in 2024/25 to R422.6 billion in 2027/28.
Over the same period, revenue from the RAF levy is expected to rise from R50.6 billion to R67.6 billion while expenditure is projected to grow more rapidly from R53 billion to R89.7 billion – widening the funding gap.
“A court-mandated requirement to process and pay claims within 14 days will add to cash-flow pressures.” it said.
This followed RAF interim board chair Kenneth Brown telling in an exclusive interview that the RAF’s liabilities could increase by between R300 billion and R400 billion because of its decision to revert back to its previous South African accounting standard.
The RAF board confirmed on 7 November 2025 it had placed the acting CEO, chief financial officer, chief governance officer, and the head in the office of the CEO on precautionary suspension with immediate effect to allow for an independent and unhindered investigation into certain administrative and governance matters within the organisation.
Inquiry reveals irregularities
The Scopa inquiry into the RAF heard about a litany of irregularities and management problems at the road agency from a host of witnesses.
These include claims that the RAF paid an estimated R22.8 billion in excess payments in just two financial years due to default judgments and inflated claims settlements because of the fund’s decision to terminate its panel of attorneys’ contracts.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe also told Scopa its investigation had uncovered an alternative bank account of the RAF containing R50 million, which is in the process of being recovered on behalf of the fund but the amounts in alternative RAF accounts at Investec ranged from R1 million up to R100 million.
It also heard that the RAF used to settle more than 250 000 claims with just over R43 billion, but can now only settle 63 000 claims with that amount, which means there is incredible financial leakage at the fund.