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RAF board seen at a taxi rank.
Chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Songezo Zibi, says the inquiry into the affairs of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) will continue despite the dissolution of the board of the entity.
The committee has set the ball rolling on setting up an inquiry to investigate persistent governance and operational challenges that have beset the RAF. These challenges have significantly undermined its ability to discharge its statutory mandate.
Recently Transport minister, Barbara Creecy, announced the dissolution of the board.
Scopa has adopted the terms of reference of its inquiry and is planning get going in mid-September. The seven areas cover among others, governance failures, ministerial and board oversight, fraud, corruption, and whistle-blower reports.
The committee says witnesses to be called include, but are not limited to, RAF board as well as executives and directly affected or implicated stakeholders.
“The Standing Committee on Public Accounts has noted the dissolution of the board of the Road Accident Fund by the Minister of Transport. Our position is that the inquiry will nonetheless continue because we are not investigating individuals. We are investigating the crisis of financial management and mismanagement of funds at the Road Accident Fund, and that work, and to the extent that there are former and current board members or staff who need to appear before the committee, they will either be invited or subpoenaed to appear,” says Zibi.
Meanwhile, the Public Service Accountability Monitor cautions about leadership vacuum since the dissolution of the board.
“We do feel, however, that even in the context of the board being dissolved, it is particularly important for there to not be a leadership vacuum in such an important context – the Road Accident Fund being as significant and massive a fund and entity as it is. But in addition to that, that even while the board is dissolved, that punitive action where it is required and that consequences must be meted out in alignment with the Public Finance Management act and other related governance regulations,” says Zukiswa Kota, Programme Head: Public Service Accountability Monitor, Rhodes University.
Video: Concerns over state of Road Accident Fund: Scopa Chairperson Songezo Zibi
