Board supports Rakgole

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has poured cold water over calls for the suspension of its chief executive, Ranthoko Rakgole, accused of pillaging public funds.

In a statement on Thursday, the RTMC board "reaffirmed its support and trust" in Rakgole, saying statements by the Democratic Alliance that Rakgole had approved salary increases above approved limits, bought a luxury car for personal use with RTMC funds and issued tenders without following procedure were untrue.

"The approved and public annual RTMC audit report shows that, prior to the CEO's and CFO's appointment, salary increases were given to RTMC staff in excess of approved limits.

"The increases were not approved by the board and the newly appointed CEO, Mr Rakgoale, was given the unpopular and difficult job of correcting the situation and disciplining the errant officials.

"To date, one official has been disciplined and has resigned, one official entered a plea bargain which was refused, his contract was terminated and one official's disciplinary hearing is in progress," said RTMC chairman of the board of directors, John Sampson.

Sampson was responding to the January 31 statement by the DA on an audit report that revealed RTMC executive directors were awarded increases of up to 389 percent, receiving R3 million each in 2009, compared to R647,090 in 2008.

DA MP Stuart Farrow said at the time "there was no measurement of the performance of board members" and that salary increases "should be approved within defined performance grounds".

But Sampson on Thursday maintained the escalating "fees" were due to "additional meetings and related time spent on RTMC activities by non-executive directors".

"The salaries paid to executive directors are in conformity with government salary scales. No increases in pay rates other than the standard annual increase set by government (10.5 percent last year) were approved.

"The reason for the apparent increase is that most of the executive directors were only appointed late in the previous financial year and hence were only paid for part of that year," Sampson said.

He also defended the spending of R4.5 million on workshops across the country when only R1.5 million had been budgeted, saying the "increase was funded from savings in other budgets".

He said the Audi A4 the DA claimed Rakgole bought with RTMC funds for personal usage was only used for official purposes. The usage of R1.3 million to hire private suits during the Confederations Cup was in line with a call by the Fifa 2010 Local Organising Committee's call for support, "not only for the country's image, but also as a precursor to the 2010 World Cup". - Sapa