Outa welcomes dissolving of RAF board and cancelling of license card tender

Civil action organisation Outa has welcomed more heads rolling in the Department of Transport as the RAF board is dissolved and the dodgy licence card contract heads to court as the department tries to cancel it.

Outa said in a statement that it welcomes this decisive action from Minister Barbara Creecy and urges full accountability. Dissolving the Road Accident Fund (RAF) board is the latest in a string of accountability moves in the department.

These steps follow the suspension of RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo in June, along with a series of high-level suspensions and interventions at other entities in the transport portfolio.

“Too much has gone unchecked for too long. Minister Creecy’s decision to dissolve the RAF board sends a strong message that poor governance and executive overreach will no longer be tolerated,” Wayne Duvenage, CEO of Outa, says.

ALSO READ: Creecy dissolves RAF board amid governance and operational failures

Outa noted deep governance failures at RAF

He points out that Creecy cited deep governance failures at the RAF, including:

• Wasteful litigation over accounting standards
• The mishandled suspension of Letsoalo
• A flood of default judgments increasing the RAF’s liabilities
• Persistent divisions within the board
• The longstanding failure to fill critical posts, including chief claims officer and head of legal.

“In our view the board failed to challenge irregular conduct and allowed serious issues to fester, including the suspension of other senior staff without due process, which appeared aimed at silencing internal dissent.”

Duvenage says Outa calls on the minister to appoint a new board with the governance depth and political will to reform the RAF, restore its mandate and investigate misconduct under the previous leadership.

ALSO READ: RAF CEO placed on special leave with full pay, as MPs grill fund

Outa welcomes key changes at Department of Transport

He points out that this follows these other key changes in the transport sector:

• The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO advocate Makhosini Msibi was placed on precautionary suspension by the RTMC board from 1 July.
• The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) group executive for enterprise, security and compliance, lieutenant general Mzwandile Petros, was also suspended.
• The RAF’s chief investment officer, Sefotle Modiba, was suspended with Letsoalo.

And now, Duvenage says, after months of delay, the Department of Transport finally filed papers in the Pretoria High Court aimed at overturning the controversial R898 million contract awarded to Idemia South Africa to supply a new driving licence card printing machine.

In early September last year, Outa exposed serious procurement irregularities in this contract and submitted a detailed report to Creecy, who passed it on to the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) and asked for further investigation.

ALSO READ: Why has the questionable driving licence card tender not been overturned?

Outa’s exposed serious procurement irregularities

The AGSA’s report, which forms part of the department’s court papers, confirms that Creecy requested an investigation on 5 September after “widespread public concern” over the appointment of Idemia. The request was accompanied by Outa’s detailed report outlining allegations of procurement irregularities.

“The minister’s communication was accompanied by a letter from Outa that contained specific allegations of an irregular procurement process were made. At the time of receiving the minister’s request, auditors at the AGSA were already in the process of reviewing the specified tender as an early regularity audit process,” Duvenage says. The AGSA then expanded its investigation scope.

“The AGSA took our concerns seriously, and we commend Creecy for acting on them. This is how civil society, oversight institutions and public representatives should work together to tackle maladministration.”

ALSO READ: Transparency concerns arise over new driving licence card machine tender

Outa got the ball rolling to stop Idemia contract

The court papers outline multiple flaws in the contract, including:

• A nearly R400 million cost escalation, from the original cabinet-approved budget of R486 385 million to the signed contract of R898 597 million.
• Use of outdated pricing.
• Omission of printing material costs.
• Evaluation errors in scoring and machine assessments.
• Bidder non-compliance and weak documentation.

The case is brought by the Department of Transport, with the founding affidavit filed by the department’s acting director-general, Mathabatha Mokonyama, against Idemia South Africa. (The director-general, advocate James Mlawu, resigned last year with effect from 28 February 2025).

The department is asking the court to set aside the Idemia contract, re-run the tender and allow the Department of Home Affairs to print the licence cards in the interim.

ALSO READ: DoT urged to pause driving licence card machine procurement

Outa says DLCA linked capacity for such a complex render

The procurement process was managed by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), an entity in the Department of Transport which the department admits lacked the capacity to handle such a complex procurement.

Duvenage points out that while the tender documents refer to “Idemia Identity and Security – South Africa,” Outa noted that no such entity exists in the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) registry. The contract was ultimately signed with Idemia South Africa, a company that changed its name from Morpho Cards SA in 2021.

The department included the AGSA’s report, its own internal procurement assessment and an external review as supporting evidence in the case. A notice in the court file confirms that the department is opposing mediation, citing unresolved disputes with Idemia. It is not yet clear whether Idemia will oppose the legal challenge, Duvenage says.