Rakgoale placed on leave after DA exposé of RTMC irregularities

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been informed that the CEO of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), Ranthoko Rakgoale has taken voluntary leave of four weeks pending the conclusion of a Department of Transport (DoT) investigation into allegations of gross financial mismanagement, procurement irregularities and misappropriation against him and other senior managers.

This follows a closed meeting this morning between RTMC senior management and the DoT and follows the DA's disclosure of serious irregularities in the management of RTMC and our formal request to the Public Protector to investigate the CEO and other managers after they were implicated by the findings of a Deloitte and Touche audit report.

We welcome this latest development, though it must be noted that it has taken S'bu Ndebele, the minister of transport, six months to act on this. This is a matter that has been raised time and again with the minister.

A set of problems in the RTMC surfaced in a Sunday Times article on 7 July 2009; we then called for an investigation into these allegations and subsequently wrote three letters to Mr. Ndebele, requesting Mr. Rakgoale's suspension pending a full investigation. No reply was received from the minister. The DA then raised the issue in a Portfolio Committee on Transport meeting and the Chairperson agreed to liaise with the minister in this regard. The DA further submitted numerous parliamentary questions to the minister to obtain clarification on the matter.

In October 2009, we received leaked documents from a number of whistleblowers at the RTMC indicating that the mismanagement and fraud allegations against the CEO were well founded. This matter was brought to the attention of Minister Ndebele, but once again, the minister did nothing. It was only now, after leaking the results of a forensic audit from Deloitte and Touche, that the matter has at last received attention from the minister.

On 1 February 2010 the DA wrote to the Public Protector to formally request an investigation on this level - and only now has the minister felt the need to institute an investigation.

It is now essential that the investigation that takes place is fully open and transparent, and that its findings are brought before the portfolio committee. Those responsible for plundering RTMC monies, funds intended for the improvement of South Africa's road traffic management systems, must brought to book.

Statement issued by Stuart Farrow, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of transport, February 11 2010

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