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
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