Former Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Phutjane Letsoalo has lost his bid for a multimillion-rand performance bonus, after the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ruled the state entity was under no obligation to pay him.
In an award handed down on 28 August 2026, Commissioner James Ngoako Matshekga dismissed Letsoalo’s claim in full, finding he did not qualify for a discretionary annual performance bonus for the 2024/25 financial year and was therefore not the victim of an unfair labour practice.
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Letsoalo occupied the CEO position on a fixed-term contract worth R5,482,906 a year, all-inclusive, from August 2020 until his employment ended in August 2025. He wanted 50% of that package, more than R2.7 million, paid out as a bonus.
He referred a dispute to the CCMA in November 2025, arguing that the RAF’s refusal to pay him amounted to an unfair labour practice under the Labour Relations Act. When conciliation failed, he took the matter to arbitration. He represented himself. RAF was represented by advocates ESJ Van Graan SC and J Hlongwane.
At the centre of the case was a single question: was Letsoalo a “qualifying employee” under RAF’s own bonus policies? The Fund’s Accounting Authority had approved bonus payments for the 2024/25 year, but only to staff who had completed a formal performance assessment with a signed-off score. Letsoalo had no such assessment on record, relying only on his own self-assessment.
Matshekga found this fatal to Letsoalo’s case. “The applicant’s performance was not assessed, and he did not have a performance score,” the commissioner noted, adding that RAF could not be accused of unfairly withholding a bonus from someone who never met the qualifying criteria in the first place.
Letsoalo called RAF’s former board chairperson, Lorraine Francois, and its current chief governing officer, Mampe Kumalo, as witnesses. RAF called three senior managers from its human capital division. The commissioner found no evidence that RAF had acted inconsistently or unfairly toward other employees in similar positions.
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In his closing argument, Letsoalo suggested that if his final performance score was never processed, the fault lay with RAF’s own staff. Matshekga rejected this as an argument that undercut Letsoalo’s case rather than supporting it, since it confirmed no valid assessment existed.
The commissioner ordered no costs against either party.
The ruling comes at a sensitive time for the Fund, which has faced years of scrutiny over its finances, governance and executive conduct. RAF is a state-owned entity responsible for compensating victims of road accidents across South Africa, funded through a fuel levy.
- This article was compiled with the assistance of AI.
- Collins Phutjane Letsoalo, former RAF CEO, lost his bid for a performance bonus after the CCMA ruled RAF was not obligated to pay him.
- Commissioner James Ngoako Matshekga found Letsoalo did not qualify for a discretionary performance bonus for the 2024/25 financial year due to lack of a formal performance assessment.
- Letsoalo's fixed-term contract was worth R5,482,906 annually, and he sought over R2.7 million as a bonus based on 50% of his package.
- The RAF's Accounting Authority only approved bonuses for employees with signed-off performance assessments, which Letsoalo did not have.
- The ruling noted no unfair labour practice by RAF, which acted consistently with its bonus policy, and no costs were ordered against either party.
