The chairperson of the cash-strapped Road Accident Fund is said to have pushed for a ‘consolation prize’ candidate who ‘lacks technical skill’ to head up the organisation rather than a higher scoring candidate who he felt was ‘too strong’. Chairman Ntuthuko Bhengu is also accused in court papers of making unilateral decisions without input from board members‚ in the latest controversy to rock the beleaguered fund, notes a TimesLIVE report.

The claims are made in an affidavit filed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) by board member Terrence Kommal. He claimed Bhengu was trying to oust him by using a false claim that his appointment constituted a conflict of interest because of previous ties he had to a company that did work for the RAF. He asked the court to halt attempts by the board to fire or suspend him pending the outcome of an investigation by the Department of Transport into whether his appointment to the board by Minister Dipuo Peters last year was a conflict of interest.

The court granted Kommal’s application. However, notes the report, documents show a deeper divide at the RAF. In his affidavit‚ Kommal claims Bhengu showed preference for chief operating officer Lindelwa Jabavu to take over from CEO Eugene Watson‚ despite her poor performance in the interview process. Watson’s contract has expired and he leaves at the end of this month. Kommal says Bhengu proposed that the board remove one of the highest-scoring candidates from the list as he and others had thought she was too strong.

Full TimesLIVE report