Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, requesting a full investigation into high-value ongoing RAF contracts signed under former CEO Collins Letsoalo. Information from the SCOPA hearings has revealed a new line of investigation. Only the Minister has the legal power now to take action and stop the RAF from squandering any more public money.
South Africans cannot afford to throw good money after bad. The RAF must focus on its core mandate: settling legitimate claims and addressing its growing debt, not wasting millions on inflated tenders and unnecessary contracts.
Yesterday at SCOPA, the DA heard testimony from the manager of Sunshine Hospital, a former medical service provider to the RAF. Sunshine Hospital primarily served poor claimants under a longstanding agreement with the RAF, dating back to 2003.
Payments were generally received, even if erratically – until Letsoalo joined.
Between 2020 and May 2025, the RAF refused to pay over R300 million owed to the hospital.
Despite court orders requiring the RAF to pay over R180 million of this debt, the agency chose to spend millions contesting judgments in court, which it ultimately lost.
The consequences have been severe: Sunshine Hospital has closed, 150 jobs have been lost, and patients were forced to seek care elsewhere, with the quality of care now uncertain.
Meanwhile, instead of settling debts and supporting claimants, the RAF intends to spend nearly a billion rand on ongoing media and advertising contracts.
There is little point in advertising a service that does not exist. RAF claimants continue to face non-existent helplines and unpaid claims, rather than receiving the compensation they are legally entitled to.
This is a clear example of the wider damage caused by Letsoalo and other officials who have mismanaged and looted the RAF.
Lives have been ruined, businesses destroyed, and public resources squandered.
The DA calls for urgent accountability and action to ensure the RAF fulfills its legal obligations and stops prioritising contracts over claimants.
Regards
Patrick Atkinson MP
DA Spokesperson on SCOPA