Pretoria - While the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is facing litigation over concerns about its functioning and efficiency, about 400 of its staff members are facing a bleak Christmas.
The RAF has announced that it intends to retrench them by the end of November.
Earlier this month, the RAF issued staff members with Section 189 notices which stated that it would embark on a consultative process as a starting point to the envisaged retrenchments.
In the letter addressed to employees, the RAF said the organisational structure review and implementation of an integrated claims management system were key objectives of the fund’s 2020-2025 strategic plan to ensure a transformed and sustainable RAF.
“The previous operating model has proved to be unsustainable and did not enable the organisation to carry out its legislative mandate effectively,” it said.
The RAF said it planned to retrench about 400 of its 3 000 staff members.
CEO Collins Letsoalo said earlier that times were difficult and it was in the public interest for the RAF to continue with its work without having to face the threat of having its assets attached all the time.
One of its employees, who declined to be named, pleaded with some members of the legal fraternity to assist them in saving their jobs and to ensure a smoothly run RAF.
He said that it was well-known that the RAF was retrenching based on restructuring with the hope that the integrated claims management systems would make things easier.
“There’s no guarantee that this system will work, but they paid R850 million for it.”
The employee said the system had not been tested, while another system bought by the RAF more than a year ago – which cost over R100m – was decommissioned a few months ago.
“That’s over a billion rand that could have gone for paying claimants. It’s just wasteful expenditure.”
He added that Letsoalo, during a function held at a Cape Town hotel recently, told staff that the RAF was performing well financially.
The employee said Letsoalo aimed to retrench skilled workers which would simply add to the accumulating backlog in processing claims.
“Many employees will be losing their livelihoods due to his insistence that the new system will work.
“RAF staff are already inundated with work as we are doing three people’s work due to many who were either fired or suspended because his directives were not followed.”
The employee said certain directives issued earlier by Letsoalo were found to be illegal by the court.
The employee said letters regarding the retrenchments added to the staff members’ anxiety and lack of motivation.
He said before Letsoalo took over, “the RAF was working fine and work was being completed. Only a few things needed to be changed.”
Meanwhile, three Mpumalanga judges led by Judge President Judge Francis Legodi reserved judgment last week in two cases where they wanted answers as to why they should not hold Letsoalo or his board personally liable, on a punitive scale, for the legal costs in those matters.
The matter was sparked by the two cases which were, against the directives of the division of the court, settled at the last minute as the trials were supposed to begin.
They raised concerns about the RAF’s ability to function and asked how and when it would up its game.
Letsoalo, however, maintained that the RAF has faced many challenges in the past, including Covid-19 and fraudulent claims.
The enormous number of claims lodged with the RAF – an average of 90 000 a year – must also be considered, he said in his answering papers.
“The financial resources of the RAF are limited. This has an effect on the appointment of employees not only with reference to the number of employees but also the experience and qualifications of employees that can evaluate and administer claims,” he explained.
Pretoria News