Minister must account for RAF’s R300 million cover up
16 September 2015
The DA has learnt from sources within the Road Accident Fund (RAF) that the Board has taken the sudden and questionable decision to shut down its Fraud Investigating Task Team (FITT). The FITT are currently investigating 300 outstanding cases of fraud and corruption to the tune of R300 million. The big question is: what will happen to these outstanding cases?
In light of this revelation, I will today write to the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, to brief Parliament to explain how this could have happened. Minister Peters, as the person with oversight authority over the RAF and the person who appointed RAF CEO Eugene Watson, is the person who should explain this shocking move.
The 22-strong unit, headed by the Special Director of the National Prosecuting Authority, Jacob Thukoane and retired Major-General J. Ackermann, as National Coordinator of Investigation, consists of specialised professionals including prosecutors and forensic investigators of the highest calibre in the country. Since the unit came into existence in 2003, it has co-operated with police and prosecutors to secure thousands of convictions and saved the RAF millions, with the total value of investigations it has conducted at over R1.6 billion.
Employees of the FITT phoned the DA in a state of shock when officials arrived and started to remove office furniture from the unit’s Cape Town offices, this morning. FITT acted as a unit in support of the protection of the RAF against fraudulent claims and they have established a remarkable service record in losing only one case over the past 13 years.
The RAF has got rid of a unit that works, and questions cannot continue to go unanswered as investigations by the FITT must be finalised and made public. There is no logical reason for this decision to close down the unit. How can it ever be justified to close a unit with an impeccable track-record?
Millions of taxpayers’ money has been saved since the establishment of the FITT. The DA will hold Minister Peters to account for this ill-thought decision to shut down this unit.
Statement issued by Chris Hunsinger, DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Transport, 16 September 2015
