By Sihle Mavuso
The appointment of Waseem Carrim as chief executive officer of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is being challenged in the Pretoria High Court by a candidate who alleges he ranked first in the recruitment process before being overlooked for the position.
Mxolisi Kunene, the current chief financial officer of the Inkatha Freedom Party-led City of uMhlathuze municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, has filed an urgent application to prevent Carrim from taking office on Monday.
The application is expected to be heard on Friday.
Kunene wants the court to interdict Carrim’s appointment while he prepares a review application within 30 days to have the decision set aside.
In his 74-page court application seen by Inside Politics, Kunene alleges that he was the leading candidate but was sidelined at the last minute in favour of Carrim, whom he describes as politically connected.
In an affidavit, Kunene said he applied for the position after it was advertised in April and subsequently underwent several rounds of interviews.
He alleges that an associate he had known through his years in public service later congratulated him on securing the position.
When Kunene asked how the associate knew this, he was allegedly told that the person had access to the consolidated evaluation scores, which placed him first.
The associate subsequently sent Kunene a screenshot of the scores, which is attached to the court papers.
The document allegedly shows Kunene ranked first, followed by Carrim.
The identity of the person who supplied the screenshot has been concealed in the papers.
Kunene further alleges that, after receiving this information, the recruitment agency responsible for the process contacted him to verify a summary of his professional background prepared for the RAF board in support of his recommendation.
“True to that person’s word and closer towards the end of August 2026, I was in fact contacted by the agency who had prepared my summary and sought for me to confirm its accuracy, which I did,” Kunene said in the affidavit.
He attached the summary, which was sent to recruitment agency Tafadzwa Consulting, to his court papers.
Kunene said he believed he had secured the position until a week before the Cabinet announced Carrim’s appointment.
He alleges that an unidentified man then called him and asked whether he would accept the position of RAF chief financial officer instead of chief executive.
Kunene said he told the caller that he had applied for the chief executive position and questioned the basis of the offer. The caller allegedly ended the conversation abruptly.
Kunene subsequently instructed his lawyers to request the record of the RAF board’s decision.
He also alleges that he received a WhatsApp message from a prominent politician known to him, suggesting that his decision to instruct attorneys had disrupted plans to assist him.
“I then received a further disconcerting WhatsApp message from a prominent politician who is in fact known to me… the addressor (the politician) indicates to me that I’ve messed up his or her plans to assist me by instructing attorneys to further my interests,” Kunene said.
It was not immediately clear whether Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, the RAF board and Carrim had filed opposing papers in response to the urgent application.
INSIDE POLITICS
