Scopa was concerned about the reasons for the alleged R300 million debt the Road Accident Fund allegedly owed to Sunshine Hospital and whether the non-payment was legally defensible.
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The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) wants the former Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo and the former board of directors held personally liable for the litigation by the institution despite no prospects of success.
This came sharply when the watchdog body considered a second draft report on another section of their investigation into the RAF that focused on the litigation involving Sunshine Hospital, which treated motor road accident victims who had no medical aid.
Parliamentary legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim said the hospital’s co-owner and managing director, Ken Ford, made a submission that the RAF owed them R300 million as of July 2025, and that former RAF employees alleged unfair dismissal for conduct relating to the hospital.
“It was clear that the Sunshine Hospital matter involved hundreds of millions of Rand and that adverse court orders were increasingly being granted against the RAF, thereby resulting in an accumulation of interest and legal costs,” Ebrahim said.
She said Scopa expressed concern regarding the reasons for the alleged debt and the legal defensibility of the non-payment.
The draft report stated that Sunshine Hospital was approached by the RAF in 2003 to admit and treat patients who had no medical aid.
It also said the two institutions signed a cooperation agreement in 2007, at a time the fund did not adhere to its payment obligations.
“Sunshine Hospital and the RAF agreed to a system for the processing of payment claims, whereby a consolidated claim in respect of a patient was submitted to the RAF as opposed to several individual claims from each of the treating medical service providers.”
However, RAF unilaterally terminated the cooperation agreement in 2018, and in 2020, imposed a moratorium on all payments and refused to settle already approved amounts.
Although RAF had conducted an investigation into the invoices, Sunshine Hospital was not found to be involved in any wrongdoing.
The hospital issued 6, 285 summonses against the RAF and obtained 647 judgments valued at R180 million as at September 2025.
The draft report said Scopa was concerned about the manner in which the RAF ignored court judgments and even obstructed valid legal processes such as sales in execution.
“This demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the rule of law. It is further nothing short of audacious that the RAF would attend these sales and purchase its own goods.”
The report said it was worrying that the RAF failed to adequately prepare to litigate their matters.
“This failure includes instances of not providing the courts with sufficient or substantive information, attempting to adduce evidence at a late stage, and failing to file opposing papers, thus attracting the ire of the courts,” reads the report.
Scopa Chairperson Songezo Zibi said if the RAF felt there were anomalies in Sunshine Hospital’s claims, they must identify and link them to specific claims.
“It is clear they have not done so even though the claims are consolidated,” Zibi said.
He suggested that the RAF had refused to pay up to prevent money leaving its coffers.
“They are to become insolvent and not meet short-term obligations and therefore had to delay the claims,” said Zibi.
DA MP Patrick Atkinson said they should recommend reclaiming the legal fees from Letsoalo and possibly the former board members because of their sheer lack of care and allowing things to go ahead knowing there was really little recourse of success.
“It seems no one seemed to care about the legal costs. Every taxpayer was funding Mr Letsoalo’s legal excesses and the way he dealt with legal cases,” said Atkinson.
ANC MP Helen Neale-May said failure to comply with court orders was not an administrative error.
“It is a breakdown of the rule of law, requiring personal accountability. I do believe civil recovery of losses and fruitless and wasteful expenditure should be taken from the former CEO and the board,” said Neale-May.
Zibi urged Scopa to carefully examine instances where funds were wasted in egregious ways.
“There are instances where it is clear things were done for their own sake and public funds were used in pursuit for something obviously futile. We have to debate consequences for the individuals concerned, and in these instances recommend so that there can be proper consequences,” he said.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za