Former Road Accident Fund (RAF) board members have told Parliament that the fund’s crisis is not new. They said the RAF has faced sustained financial distress for more than three decades. In their account, liabilities have exceeded assets since at least 1981. That, they argued, left the fund “technically insolvent” for decades.
The testimony was delivered to Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) in Cape Town. Former board members Nomonde Buyisiwe Mabuya, Thembelihle Nkosazana Msibi and Zanele Lorraine Francois said today’s collapse stems from structural and legislative weaknesses. They also pointed to governance problems that predated their term.
Scopa’s inquiry formally covers the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years. But the committee has signalled it will also examine earlier decisions. The former board’s term ran from 2019 until its dissolution in July 2025. They said that even the board before them was dissolved due to sustainability concerns. Yet, in their view, the underlying drivers were never fixed.
Road Accident Fund Insolvency and the Litigious Model
In an affidavit, the former board members described an operating model that is “highly litigious”. They said that too much revenue is absorbed by administration and legal spending. Too little flows to claimants. They also said outstanding claims rose each year. More claims were registered. Settlements were slow. Liabilities and unpaid amounts continued to build.
They linked part of the long-running strain to legislative inertia. In particular, they cited the failure to amend the “outdated” RAF Act. Without reform, they argued, the system continued to reward disputes and delays.
The affidavit also referenced comments attributed to then transport minister Fikile Mbalula in the RAF’s 2020/21 annual report. He is quoted as saying the 2019 board inherited an unsustainable fund with an ineffective operating model. The fund, he said, had been technically insolvent since 1981.
Fuel Levy Relief, but Fiscal Risk Remained
The former board also cited then Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s February 26, 2020, budget speech. He announced a 25c-per-litre increase in the fuel levy to adjust for inflation. Of that, 16c went to the general fuel levy and 9c to the RAF levy.
However, the affidavit stated that Mboweni warned that liabilities were forecast to exceed R600bn by 2022/23. He also warned of rising risk to the fiscus. Urgent measures were needed, he said, to share costs more equitably.
Governance Gains Claimed, Alongside Political Friction
Despite the inherited constraints, the former board told Scopa it made measurable governance improvements. It said it strengthened governance structures and board committees. It also said it acted on the Auditor-General’s findings. The group described a weak control environment upon arrival in 2019. It cited fraud, waste and abuse, instability in executive management, and a large litigation backlog.
The former board raised concerns about its relationship with the current political leadership. It said that after Transport Minister Barbara Creecy’s appointment in July 2024, the board did not receive an early meeting on expectations or direction. It also described a “hostile” annual general meeting on September 25 2024. There, it is alleged, Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa instructed the board to withdraw the litigation against the auditor-general.
The result is a sharper spotlight on Road Accident Fund Insolvency as both a policy and governance issue. For healthcare and public-sector stakeholders, the key question now is whether Scopa’s inquiry will drive structural reform, or merely document a long, costly decline.
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