After the Bell: The RAF — never has so much been taken by so few

I know that, like me, you might have been slightly fixated on all of the inquiries into the obviously criminal activity in our police, with all of the incredible shenanigans that have been going on there for a long time.

It seems obvious that Senzo Mchunu is never going to be our police minister again; watching him twist and turn over the past few days has been almost excruciating.

I was quite pleased in a strange way when Bheki Cele arrived this morning to answer questions. I know for a fact he has never lacked confidence, and quite enjoys a fight. But I also know that he was never the right person to be either police minister or national police commissioner.

It’s quite strange, but I’ve known this for 15 years.

Because back in 2010 the Mail & Guardian ran a story explaining that he had lost about R20,000 in cash on a plane. Apart from the fact that I just don’t understand how someone leaves a bag of cash on a plane (can you imagine the rush back to get it – and this was R20k in 2010 nogal…), he did not report it to the police.

This was the national police commissioner who, first, was carrying loads of cash around (to be fair, he did say it was a lobola payment), and second, did not want to report it.

A few months later there was an important report in the Mail & Guardian about how there had been a burglary at his home in which a larger amount of cash had been taken.

It’s funny how those little things can sometimes tell you all you need to know about a person.

I was pretty sure there was something wrong with Jackie Selebi when he was national police commissioner, when it turned out he was using a car that had been stolen and impounded by the police.

It’s a bit like Markus Jooste. I was fairly certain things were going to end badly when I realised just how much into horse racing he was. I mean, seriously, who trusts a serial gambler with billions of rands.

Donald Trump is another great example. Never mind all of the politics, someone who enjoys a transaction with a porn star is not someone to trust with the government’s money.

While I’ve been focused on the SAPS soap operas, I think I’m guilty of not giving the parliamentary inquiry into the Road Accident Fund (RAF) enough attention.

This week the former head of the fund’s actuarial unit testified that the RAF had paid out about R22.8-billion in excessive payments. 

To put that in context, the generally accepted figure of what we lost to the Guptas during the State Capture period is about R50-billion. 

If these numbers are right, the RAF has managed to waste about half of what the Guptas stole in just two years (I am hoping there is a lot more to it and the total is not quite that high).

And the cost is not just financial.

In testimony that was difficult to watch, one RAF official started to cry as he recounted the bullying of former CEO Collins Letsoalo. 

This is exceptionally awful behaviour. And at the centre of it is Letsoalo.

Again, I think there were clear signals that he was going to be trouble for the RAF. Perhaps the first public clue was what Fikile Mbalula (who was transport minister at the time) said: “I have no doubt that he will rise to the occasion and provide decisive leadership in tackling the challenges” of the RAF.

But those with a longer memory might remember Letsoalo when he was running the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. As the Sunday Times reported at the time, he was able to give himself a salary increase of 350%. 

You have to wonder what Mbalula was thinking when he decided this was the person who would “rise to the occasion”. 

Perhaps he was still planning his trip to Ukraine. 

But Letsoalo is one of those people who will change the rules when they can, so they can do what they want.

And I have to wonder at the ego of it all. Who feels they need bodyguards around them at all times, and then makes the state pay for it all? 

I have no doubt that a lot more is going to come out about Letsoalo and what he did. And I’m sure that, in the end, Parliament is going to recommend some serious action against him.

But it will all take a very long time.

And in the meantime, the problems of the RAF continue to mount. There are accident victims who are not getting paid, those who had the misfortune to work for Letsoalo have to live with the pain he caused them, and you and I will never get back the money he has lost us.

The tragedy is that this was all so obviously foreseeable.

Like the tragedies around Selebi and Jooste and Trump and, as we shall see over the next few days, Cele. DM