The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) launched an oversight inquiry into the Road Accident Fund (RAF) on Tuesday.
The move begins a concentrated investigation into allegations of impropriety that threaten the cash-strapped fund and risk imposing further strain on the public purse.
The inquiry shifts the RAF troubles from administrative dysfunction to a potential fiscal problem in which forensic reconciliation could uncover recoverable losses, trigger civil or criminal referrals and force swift legislative or executive action to plug gaps that leave taxpayers exposed.
The investigation, which follows months of repeated summonses, public submissions and judicial criticism, will focus on persistent financial reporting failures, governance breakdowns and procurement irregularities before progressing to multi‑party evidence hearings, targeted forensic tracing and a committee report due before year‑end.
Scopa chair Songezo Zibi said the inquiry is premised on a substantial docket of public input and documentary material, noting the committee received “just under 100 submissions, some running into hundreds of pages”, which helped frame priority lines of inquiry and identify witnesses.
Deputy transport minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa told MPs the department accepts the RAF is in crisis and confirmed the department’s co‑operation with the parliamentary inquiry, saying the inquiry runs “parallel to legislative review and reform of the RAF” under the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS) Bill.
The orientation presentations produced a compact factual baseline that Scopa will test in evidence. RAF officials walked MPs through the statutory claims process, recent operational reforms, and the 2021 rollout of an Integrated Claims Management System (ICMS) designed to automate adjudication, case management, payments, and tabled operational statistics that expose the gap between design and delivery.
Of the 105,039 claims pre-assessed between July 2022 and March 2025, 72% failed to meet revised lodgement requirements, leaving a small compliant cohort to bear the system's function burden.
Multiple operational pain points
Officials acknowledged multiple operational pain points that map directly onto Scopa’s mandate: a large backlog of unpaid and rejected claims, chronic record‑keeping weaknesses, high levels of non‑compliance with documentary requirements, delays introduced by external lodgement channels and uneven user adoption of the ICMS.
RAF witnesses described steps under way to upscale tracing and to centralise query and complaints handling through a new CRM‑based contact centre, but they also confirmed significant human‑resource churn: permanent claims headcount fell from 1,886 in 2020 to 1,356 in 2025 while the use of contractors increased, and critical vacancies persist at senior operational levels.
Scopa’s inquiry is focused on three tracks. The first is a forensic reconciliation of the RAF’s financial records and cash flows to establish the scale of contingent and actual liabilities arising from default judgments, rescissions and settlements.
Oversight material compiled for the committee points to a wave of default judgments in early May 2025 and references a preliminary Special Investigating Unit (SIU) estimate of R4.7bn in exposure from those defaults; the committee has prioritised litigation bundles, rescission affidavits, cost orders and bank‑to‑bank payment trails for scrutiny.
Procurement and supply‑chain irregularities
The second track examines procurement and supply‑chain irregularities flagged at roughly R1bn, including the R360m Medicare24 contract cancelled in mid‑May 2025.
Scopa has demanded full tender dossiers, evaluation reports, contract variations, invoices, supplier bank details and conflict‑of‑interest declarations for the flagged contracts.
The third track will scrutinise long‑running suspensions, unresolved disciplinary processes and ongoing salary and legal‑fee accruals to determine whether governance breakdowns enabled loss or unlawful conduct.
Scopa has requested suspension orders, disciplinary files, payroll records and relevant board and audit‑committee minutes for verification.
It will test oral testimony against documentary exhibits, and the committee intends to consider criminal or civil referrals where evidence indicates recoverable losses or unlawful conduct.
Scopa’s timetable indicates an intention to finalise findings and recommendations before parliament closes in December.
RAF currently has R19bn in outstanding claims and faces a significant backlog, with statutory timelines requiring submission within two years for hit-and-run cases and three years for identified drivers, subject to exceptions for minors and mentally incapacitated people.
The fund has 120 days to settle a claim and 180 days to effect payment after settlement or court order. Officials reported that a recent contact centre campaign received 1,698 enquiries and achieved a 97% settlement rate, while an outbound initiative reached 65,000 claimants to recover missing documentation, many of whom had lost contact with their legal representatives.
RAF continues to allocate litigation matters using its existing Litigation Management System, and Hlengwa confirmed that CEO recruitment is under way after the suspension and contract expiry of former CEO Collins Letsoalo, who lost a legal challenge to overturn his suspension.
Transport minister Barbara Creecy dissolved the RAF board in July and has requested confirmation from the SIU on whether its current investigation under Proclamation 44 of 2024 covers recent events.
Hlengwa also raised concerns about whistle-blower reports implicating law firms and members of the judiciary, and emphasised the need for improved public education on claims processes to ensure that compensation reaches intended beneficiaries.
Update: October 7 2025
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