‘RAF must pursue growth'

DEPUTY MINISTER: SPEECH ADDRESSES ISSUES RELATED TO PAST FINANCIAL RESULTS

- Roy Cokayne

Accounting standard saw drop in fund's liabilities for outstanding claims.

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been advised by Deputy Minister of Mkhuleko Transport Hlengwa to use legislative reforms instead of "arbitrary changes in accounting standards" to achieve the changes required by the fund.

This was in reference to the governance issues facing the RAF related to its 2020-2021 annual financial results.

The Auditor-General (AG) issued a disclaimer to these financial results because the RAF had adopted a different accounting standard, resulting in the fund's liabilities for outstanding claims plummeting to R34 billion in 2022-23 from R331 billion in 2019-20.

An application to the High Court in Pretoria to review and set aside the AG's disclaimer and declare the disclaimer invalid and unlawful was dismissed with costs in April this year.

Ongoing dialogue

Hlengwa said in a department of transport budget vote speech earlier this week that his past and recent experiences in parliament I have led to him grappling with addressing accounting standards related to the RAF.

He said there had been ongoing dialogue between the RAF, the AG, parliament and the courts.