Scopa also resolved to send a summons to former RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo to force him to testify
A R8.3-million contract awarded by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to overhaul the fund’s organisational structure has come under the spotlight in parliament, with revelations that this excluded critical oversight elements such as job grading, change management and qualification verification.
The details emerged on Friday in a presentation delivered to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) by PwC Africa People and Organisation Leader, Dr Dayalan Govender, outlining how PwC was appointed to streamline RAF operations through an organisational structure review project that began in late 2019.
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According to the presentation, PwC was appointed through an open tender process issued on 13 December 2019 and was formally awarded the contract on 4 May 2020.
The consultancy’s contract, initially signed in August 2020, was later extended twice for additional process work and time extensions until December 2021.
PwC’s exclusions raise questions
But while PwC’s brief was to identify inefficiencies, assess skills and design a new organisational structure aligned to RAF’s strategic plan, the presentation reveals a long list of exclusions that raise questions about the depth and accountability of the project.
Among the activities explicitly marked as out of scope for PwC were: qualification verification of management and employees; job grading and evaluations, which were left to RAF’s internal HR team; change management and union engagement, despite the project’s potential impact on staff redeployments.
Also excluded in the scope were psychometric assessments, migration policy development and technology recommendations for implementation.
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In essence, PwC designed the blueprint but left the implementation to RAF.
According to the presentation, “PwC provided RAF with a transition plan framework with leading practice principles. All implementation activities were out of scope for PwC. PwC did not make any recommendations regarding retrenchments”.
The PwC contract, which spanned nearly two years, included skills audits, capacity planning and transition frameworks for redeploying or retrenching staff.
However, according to the presentation, PwC had no role in verifying employee credentials, testing competencies or grading jobs. These tasks were central to the credibility of the structural review.
The committee, chaired by Songezo Zibi, is conducting an inquiry into allegations of maladministration, financial mismanagement, wasteful and reckless expenditure, and related financial misconduct at the RAF.
Collins Letsoalo to get summons from Scopa
Former RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo has repeatedly ignored Scopa’s request to testify, with Zibi announcing on Friday that the committee has resolved to summons him.
“…the committee resolved to send Mr Letsoalo a final letter of invitation, failing which the committee would consider issuing summons to him in terms of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities Act of 2004. On Thursday evening, the committee heard from Parliament’s legal advisor, Ms Fatima Ebrahim, that Mr Letsoalo had failed to respond to the final letter, which offered him an opportunity to voluntarily appear before the committee,” he said.
Explaining the post-resolution procedures, Zibi said he will write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, to seek her agreement.
He said since issuing a summons was a drastic step, the letter will explain that the information the committee seeks is within Letsoalo’s personal knowledge and cannot be obtained by other means.
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