The troubled former Road Accident Fund (RAF) chief executive Collins Letsoalo packed his office with special advisors of yes-men in posts that were never advertised.
This was the startling revelation before parliament’s Scopa Oversight Inquiry into RAF sitting in Cape Town.
A scorned former GM and acting CFO at RAF, Victor Songelwa, who at some point broke down with tears recounting workplace abuse he suffered at the hands of Letsoalo, painted a picture of a CEO who was running amok at RAF.
Among other sins that Songelwa alleges Letsoalo committed was bringing in a culture of staffing his office with “specialists” to cement his tight grip on the organisation.
To make matters worse, none of these posts were advertised, even internally, although several people within RAF qualified and were interested to fill those vacancies.
This is because the intention was to install a regime of a chorus fully behind Letsoalo who went on to make several unilateral decisions and was blamed for collapsing governance at RAF.
Gallery of dubious appointees
“The Acting CEO (Letsoalo, who was later appointed long-term) appointed several specialists in his office. The first batch of these specialists arrived on 4 May 2020: Senior Finance Specialist (Boitumelo Mabusela), Treasury Specialist (Sefotle Modiba), and Change Specialist (Mamphela Hlatshwayo). The Senior Finance Specialist was appointed as the Acting CFO on 2 June 2020 but resigned by May 2021,” said Songelwa.
“The second batch of specialists arrived on 1 June 2020: Communication Specialist (William Maphetha) and Senior Change Specialist (Rodney Mkhabela). Another specialist arrived on 1 July 2020 in the position of Reengineering Specialist (Peter Malele).
“In addition, there was also Specialist: ICT (Pius Lebaka) and Specialist: Security (Stephen Msiza). These Specialists took over critical positions at RAF. Many general managers were ‘pushed out’ of their positions in consequence—either their contracts were not renewed or disciplinary charges were taken against them, not all with merit,” Songelwa continued.
The Treasury Specialist (Sefotle Modiba) was appointed to act in this position, and he later became an Acting Chief Investment Officer in June 2022. The Acting General Manager of Treasury was appointed to act as CIO around July 2022.”
Obstructionist specialists knuckle down
“Shortly after the arrival of the first batch of specialists, I was removed from my post as acting CFO on 2 June 2020, and the senior finance specialist was placed in that position on the same day.”
