The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has rubbished allegations of the entity’s mismanagement and defended its CEO Collins Letsoalo in the wake of a threat of a national shutdown of its offices by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).

The response comes after Numsa issued a 48-hour notice to mobilise its members for a shutdown of all of RAF’s offices as of Thursday, over the alleged continuous mismanagement of the entity by the CEO.

The union added that it would also march to the offices of the National Department of Transport in Pretoria, to deliver a memorandum of demands to Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga.

Their chief demand will call for the removal of Letsoalo, as the union described the CEO’s arrogance and poor decision making having led to the ‘disastrous state’ of the entity, to the detriment of clients and employees.

Numsa’s general secretary, Irvin Jim, complained of the growing number of issues at the entity, including its inability to pay out claimants on time means, resulting in assets routinely being attached, and the internal call centre being shut down, only for the entity to outsource the function. This was to the tune of over R200 million for 13 months to a company that had a history of benefiting hugely from government tenders.

Chief Executive Officer Collins Letsoalo Picture: Masi Losi

Furthermore, he accused the CEO of continuing with implementing restructuring even after having abandoned the formal, lawful restructuring process which was under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, during February 2023.

That, along with recent judgments against the CEO, for a number of botched cases for which he was ultimately held responsible .

“Letsoalo is single-handedly destroying the RAF and he believes that no one will hold him accountable for his shocking behaviour. Judging from the behaviour of the government, and its lacklustre response to this crisis, it seems he may be right.

“We call on workers to ignore his threats of dismissal and disciplinary action for going on strike. The strike certificate means that when you strike, there is nothing he can do,” Jim added.

McIntosh Polela, RAF head of corporate communications, said the fund was alerted to the allegations against its head, and disagreed wholeheartedly with the union.

“The RAF has seen the allegations from Numsa; we disagree with them. We also disagree with their intention to strike. An attack on the CEO is unfortunate and unwarranted. The RAF is not a one man show, it’s an organisation. It is therefore disingenuous to attack one person.

“The changes that are currently taking place are part of the 2020-2025 strategy to turn around the RAF. These changes were approved at the level of the board and shareholder, and the Department of Transport. The strategy that led to the current changes, including restructuring, was presented to Numsa in the presence of the union leader, Irvin Jim,” added Polela.

The spokesperson expressed that an agreement was made between the union and the RAF that matters of discipline were not collective bargaining matters, but rather managerial prerogative.

“Disagreements in the workplace happen all the time, but management will continue to do its work and likewise Numsa will continue to carry out its duties of protecting workers.”

The Star

goitsemang.matlhabe@inl.co.za

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