Former Road Accident Fund (RAF) chief executive officer (CEO) Collins Letsoalo may now face criminal prosecution after he failed to attend a scheduled hearing before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday.
Letsoalo was formally subpoenaed to testify as part of Scopa’s ongoing inquiry into the RAF’s operations, following his earlier refusals to appear voluntarily.
The committee, which is probing the RAF’s financial troubles amid numerous claims of maladministration, financial irregularities, and the misuse of public money, wants Letsoalo to respond to accusations of excessive spending on his personal security and the termination of the panel of attorneys.
Members also want clarity on his involvement in altering the RAF’s accounting policies and the subsequent litigation against the auditor-general.
Former RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo ditches Scopa
Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi said the committee had tried repeatedly — without success — to secure Letsoalo’s voluntary appearance the previous week.
“Before we issued a summons, we also took a decision to provide Mr Letsoalo with more time.”
Zibi explained that the sheriff attempted to deliver the summons multiple times at Letsoalo’s listed addresses but was unable to do so.
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At the first address, it was discovered that no one had lived there “for quite some time”.
“The sheriff was told, upon getting to the estate, that there was nobody in the residence,” he said.
According to Zibi, the sheriff also visited a second address where someone appeared to be residing, but despite leaving a note, Letsoalo never responded.
Letsoalo letter
Zibi further addressed a letter dated 20 November that Letsoalo allegedly sent to the committee, in which he argued the inquiry was “unlawful”, demanded that Scopa halt the process, retract alleged defamatory remarks, and issue a formal public apology.
The chairperson said Scopa has no official record of receiving the letter and has been trying to obtain it.
“We still don’t have an email so that is the state of affairs right now,” he said.
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Zibi indicated that unless the letter is formally submitted to Parliament, its legitimacy remains uncertain.
“You can’t pick something off the street; that’s not the way you communicate.”
He added: “The only thing we have officially is his previous correspondence to the committee which said this committee does not have the authority to do the work that it is doing.”
Zibi said a legal opinion confirmed that Scopa’s inquiry is fully compliant with parliamentary rules.
“The speaker [of National Assembly] has also concurred with us.”
Parliamentary legal adviser Fatima Ebrahim reminded the committee that anyone who ignores a summons commits a criminal offence and could face either a fine or up to 12 months in prison.
‘Firm decision’
ANC MP Gijimani Skosana warned that if Letsoalo does not appear by 12pm on Wednesday, the committee will proceed and “take a firm decision” to open criminal charges.
“We did all in our powers to try and get him to attend this inquiry,” he said.
Skosana added that discussing the contents of the unverified letter would amount to “gossiping”.
ActionSA MP Alan David Beesley commented that Letsoalo had essentially shown Parliament the “middle finger”.
“I think we are setting a very dangerous precedent if we don’t take him into the full might of the criminal justice system because as Parliament, we do have an oversight responsibility,” he said.
Letsoalo was first placed on special leave in May this year by the RAF board, a measure that became a formal suspension in June.
The move followed the accusations of insubordination since Letsoalo failed to appear before Scopa.
His five-year contract ended on 6 August.
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