By Simon Nare
Former Road Accident Fund (RAF) board members faced sharp criticism at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) for failing to hold management accountable, leading to skyrocketing legal bills.
Four former board members, including chairperson Zanele Lorraine Francois and deputy Dr Nomonde Mabuya-Moelele, struggled to justify their inaction, admitting they did not interrogate management over poor decisions or seek independent legal advice.
Francois defended the board, saying they had trusted management and saw no reason to question decisions, even when they appeared questionable.
SCOPA chairperson Songezo Zibi pressed the board on why one law firm was paid over R200 million per year while RAF had no lawyers in court to defend itself, causing legal costs to spiral.
He also questioned whether the board was aware that management had sought legal advice from Advocate Ishamael Semenya regarding the RAF Form 1 system and had ignored it.
The RAF Form 1 system, used to lodge claims for compensation such as medical expenses, loss of income, or funeral costs, reportedly made it difficult for victims to lodge claims without a lawyer’s assistance.
Zibi said Semenya had warned that the form could not be introduced without amending the RAF Act.
“Did you, as the board, receive another legal opinion contradicting Advocate Semenya’s interpretation of the Constitutional Court’s decision? I want to understand how the board was comfortable excluding so many people from being able to lodge claims,” Zibi asked.
Dr Mabuya-Moelele attempted to answer, suggesting the matter should have been discussed in a legal committee, but Zibi cut her off.
It became clear that management had not shared Semenya’s legal advice with the board.
When pressed on whether they had received any alternative legal opinion, the board members all said they had not.
“So, your management secures legal advice, ignores it, and you did nothing? When was the RAF Act last amended? Was it amended since 2021?” Zibi asked, to which the board members said no.
He added that management had been warned that without an amendment, the fund could not demand additional information from claimants.
“An honest management would have shared this with the board, but that did not happen,” Zibi said.
He noted that the Legal Practice Council and other parties had gone to court on the issue— and RAF lost every case.
Zibi also questioned why the board itself had never sought independent legal advice. Mabuya-Moelele admitted nothing had prevented them from doing so.
“You simply didn’t. There was nothing stopping you from seeking legal advice that could have minimised the impact on tens of thousands of accident victims,” Zibi said.
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