BL Premium reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is set to embark on a “national shutdown” of all Road Accident Fund (RAF) offices on Thursday, to demand the removal of CEO Collins Letsoalo for alleged “gross incompetence” and presiding over the “disastrous” state of affairs at the state-owned entity.
The RAF was set up in 1996 to compensate victims of traffic accidents. It is among state organs hollowed out by years of mismanagement, huge backlogs and corruption. The total amount of default judgments issued against the RAF for cost and fees from 2018 until the second quarter of 2023 amounts to R4.7bn. Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the fund had been served with a 48-hour strike notice and the union was mobilising members for a shutdown on Thursday. The union is expected to hand over a memorandum of demands to Chikunga “listing all the problems at the organisation”. The union leader said at least 200 claims handlers have remained on suspension since 2022 when they were accused of fraud by the management with “no disciplinary action against them”. He also said the RAF intended to retrench workers because it had procured an automated system that cost more than R900m, which would make claims handlers and claims admin assistants obsolete.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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