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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Board Chairman, John Sampson taking up the matter of alleged gross financial mismanagement, procurement irregularities and misappropriation at the hands of the CEO, Ranthoko Rakgoale.

This follows the DA's request to the Public Protector to investigate the allegations against Rakgoale and other senior officials at the RTMC and our revelation of the contents of a R13.3-million Deloitte and Touche independent forensic audit into the agency's finances.

Dr. Sampson's reported plan to convene a special meeting is welcomed, particularly from the kind of political protection that Rakgoale appears to have been afforded up until now. However, there are a number of questions to be answered regarding whether the board will be impartial in dealing with the matter.

Firstly, this begs the question as to why the board has decided that it will ‘very likely' take action on the matter only now. The allegations of financial irregularities at the RTMC have been in the public domain since July 2009.

Secondly, the board has had access to the Deloitte audit report exposing the agency's shoddy finances since September 2009. This also raises the question of whether the board merely chose to ignore the findings of the audit, as Rakgoale was previously the Chairperson of the RTMC board. Had the report not been leaked to the DA, would any action have even been considered against Rakgoale?

Thirdly, the board was party to the "salary increases in excess of approved limits" referred to in the audit report. According to the RTMC's 2008/09 annual report in 2008 the non-executive directors' total salaries amounted to R287 262. In 2009 this had escalated to R720 170, despite there being two fewer members.

Fourthly, the board must have approved, or at least have been aware of the "lack of monitoring of controls over the RTMC's budget and a "lack of evidence to suggest that payments were made in conjunction with the RTMC budget" as reported in the audit report. According to the RTMC Act the board is directly responsible for the efficiency and financial performance of the RTMC and therefore would have been party to financial decisions made by the CEO. Moreover, they would have been aware of the inordinate increase of a tender from R9-million to R65-million.

The DA has written to the Public Protector requesting an investigation into the financial affairs of the RTMC. It is hoped that the Public Protector will act expeditiously on this matter and bring to book those who plundered public funds meant for the management of South Africa's road traffic affairs.