Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo – implicated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in possible wrongdoing in a R79m property lease deal – might have misled the National Treasury and the fund’s board about the transaction.

A Sunday Times report says the SIU investigations into the RAF named Letsoalo as having been involved in awarding the 2020 deal to Mowana Properties – despite it having been a losing bidder in the tender.

RAF documents had suggested that Letsoalo and his team withheld crucial information about the appointment of Mowana Properties. However, this contradicts Letsoalo’s claims at a media conference last week, where he insisted that he had done everything by the book.

The major discrepancies are:

* The RAF did not tell the Treasury about an alleged material irregularity that led to the original recommendation by the Bid Evaluation Committee being overturned and the lease being awarded to Mowana;
* The RAF failed to inform the Treasury that a tender process had been completed and SKG Properties was the recommended bidder;
* The RAF only mentioned to the Treasury seven failed bid attempts and not the successful bid by SKG; and
* Letsoalo describes Mowana as a government entity because the Public Investment Corporation holds a 100% shareholding, but Mowana is a private company operating outside the scope of the Public Finance Management Act.

The Treasury has confirmed that the RAF did not give it full reasons for requesting a deviation from normal tender processes to appoint Mowana.

The Treasury was unaware that Mowana was a losing bidder. Neither the AG Tsakani Maluleke nor the Treasury was informed of the alleged material irregularity found by an official in Letsoalo’s office, Prudence Manyasha.

‘The National Treasury responded to a request for deviations based on the reasons provided by entities,’ the Treasury said in a statement to the Sunday Times.

‘If there were reasons for deviation other than the reasons provided in the application, RAF “may” have misrepresented the information. However, this new information would require verification before coming to that conclusion ... If it is found that RAF misrepresented information in its application, the matter will be reported to the (Auditor-General) and National Department of Transport for consideration.’

In its preliminary findings, the SIU found Letsoalo allegedly interfered with supply chain processes in the appointment of Mowana. According to the SIU, Letsoalo was not in favour of a nine-year lease with SKG Properties as recommended.

As a result he instructed Manyasha to scrutinise the evaluations.

According to the SIU, Manyasha reported back that she found irregularities but she never put these in writing.

Letsoalo regarded her findings as reason enough to switch the lease to Mowana, which the SIU said was ‘tantamount to overturning the decision of the Bid Evaluation Committee, which is at odds with the legal prescripts’.

Full Sunday Times report