2.The RAFC Act provides¹ that the staff of the Commission shall, inter alia, consist in "officers in the public service made available for that purpose by the Director-General". Ms Roux is in the employment of the RAF as Regional Manager, Pretoria.

3.The RAFC Act makes no provision for the appointment of any person to the position of Secretary to the Commission. The Commissioners have understood this position to encompass certain administrative responsibilities. During 1999 Ms Roux established offices for the Commission in Pretoria, arranged for two typists to be seconded from the RAF, prepared budgets, liaised with the financial administration of the RAF with regard to the funding of the Commission, oversaw liaison with the interested public and professional and other bodies, convened public hearings. In short, she has occupied a vital administrative and managerial role.

4.During February 2000 certain concerns about the appointment and functions of Ms Roux were brought to the attention of the Commissioners. These may be summarised as follows:

1.As a senior employee of the RAF, Ms Roux had been central to the discussions about and the drafting of the White Papers over some years. She was one of a small cabal of RAF management who had made a commitment to a particular point of view as expressed in the White Papers and accordingly could not be expected to enter into her duties as Secretary to the Commission with the necessary degree of impartiality.

ii. Many months prior to the appointment of the Commission, Ms Roux was selected by the cabal to be Secretary to the Commission with, inter alia, the task of reflecting the views of the cabal, reporting back to the cabal and directing the progress of the Commission.

iii. An agreement was reached with Ms Roux, which was not disclosed to the Board or to other senior management of the RAF appointing her as Secretary to the Commission long before the Commission existed and at a financial arrangement considered to be unjustified.

iv. Even if there was nothing improper in the selection of Ms Roux and the conclusion of the agreement, there was and remains a perception that her appointment was more than unfortunate in that it has tainted the independence and impartiality of the Commission. There is a view that certain of the enquiries conducted by the Commission have been instigated by Ms Roux³.

5.On receipt of these complaints, the Chairperson of the Commission made certain enquiries and ascertained that:

1.During November 1998, Mr P. Botbijl, then Chairperson of the Board of the RAF and Acting CEO of the RAF, informed the Board that Ms Roux would be seconded as secretary to the Commission to which the Board assented.

There is no record that the Board was consulted on or advised of payment of any secondment allowance.

ii. An agreement between Ms Roux, Mr Botbijl and the former Director General of Transport, was concluded on a date unknown to the Commission which recorded the secondment of Ms Roux to serve as secretary of the Commission and that, whilst seconded, she would receive a secondment allowance to be agreed between the acting CEO and herself.⁴

iii. On 15th December 1998 Mr Botbijl, in his capacity as Acting CEO of the RAF, wrote to Ms Roux referring to discussions relating to her appointment as secretary to the Commission. On the basis that "…your workload will without doubt increase.." and "…mindful of your responsibilities", Mr Botbijl deemed it appropriate that a "secondment allowance" of R 9 000 (nine thousand rand) per month be paid to Ms Roux with effect from 1^st January 1999⁵additional to her full remuneration as an employee of the RAF.

iv. The appointment of Ms Roux as Secretary was made public on 1^st June 1999 when the Commission was actually established. Certain bodies within the legal profession⁶ prepared formal objections to her appointment along the lines of the concerns summarised above for submission to the Commission. However, it was decided not to proceed with such objections by reason of the perceived independence of the individual Commissioners and their ability to frustrate any attempts at manipulation by the cabal or Ms Roux herself⁷.

6.Judge Satchwell was approached to serve on the Commission in March 1999. It was then suggested to her that Ms Roux had been identified as a person with managerial skills as also knowledge of the RAF and the relevant issues which would suit her to the position of Secretary to the Commission. The Judge was never informed that Ms Roux had already been "appointed" some months previously and was given to understand that this was a decision to be made by and an appointment to be made by the Judge herself. Judge Satchwell met with Ms Roux and was impressed with her forthright and articulate manner, her apparent efficiency and her knowledge of the identity of the role players and the issues involved. Judge Satchwell advised the then Director General of Transport that she would be comfortable with the appointment of Ms Roux as Secretary.

7.No disclosure was ever made to the Judge (or the other Commissioners) of the Agreement concluded with Ms Roux in December 1998.

8.On learning, for the first time in February 2000, of the above mentioned concerns and of the circumstances of Ms Roux's appointment and secondment, the Commissioners met and resolved:

i. All Commissioners have been throughout and remain satisfied as to the personal integrity and professionalism of Ms Roux as evidenced in her work for the Commission. No Commissioner has any experience of attempted or successful manipulation by Ms Roux.

ii. The Commission has no knowledge of the existence of any cabal (within senior management or the Board) during the life of the Commission. Even

if such were to exist, the Commission has no secrets and is prepared to enter into discussions and dialogue on all relevant topics with any person or body. Furthermore, absent such cabal it is difficult to conceive how Ms Roux could manipulate the individual Commissioners for and on behalf of such a body.

9.The Chairperson informed Mr Greenland that in the event that there were or are any specific complaints concerning Ms Roux these should be addressed directly and formally to the Commission.

10.The Chairperson also wrote to the Acting CEO of the RAF on the 7^th February 2000 advising that "It is clear that the arrangements made with Ms Roux pertaining to such "secondment allowance" including the justification therefore and the amount thereof were concluded some six and a half months prior to the appointment of the Commissioners and the Commission and that financial responsibility therefore cannot be ascribed to the Commission nor to its budget. I understand that Ms Roux was paid such secondment allowance for some five months prior to the appointment of the Commission. However, in respect of the allowance paid to Ms Roux from date of appointment of the Commission and commencement of operations, viz. 1 June 1999 I must advise that:

11.The response of Mr Greenland is contained in a letter of 11^th February 2000¹⁰ in which, inter alia, is recorded the perception that the appointment of Ms Roux to the Commission would impact negatively on the imperative that the Commission should be seen as totally independent of the Fund and that Ms Roux had betrayed a resistive attitude towards a management transformation initiative which created theoretical risk that she would use her position at the Commission to induce a negative perception about present management. This perception is reinforced "when regard is had to the barrage of questions that management has had to endure from the Commission, many of which are concerned with competence and/or possible mismanagement". The response of all Commissioners was to state that "Be assured that all queries concerning and comments on the Management of the Road Accident Fund are occasioned solely by concern as to the capacity of present RAF Management to implement its legislative tasks and based solely on the facts before the Commission itself. To suggest otherwise is to impugn the integrity of each member of the Commission".

12.Ms Roux holds the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and LL.B from the University of Stellenbosch. She was admitted as an attorney (1988), notary and conveyancer. She was a conveyancing attorney for the two years immediately prior to her employment with the RAF. The Regional Manager, Pretoria is responsible for the largest of the RAF branches. Pretoria has some 220 employees and receives and administers most road accident compensation claims. The Regional Manager manages four claims departments, their managers, claims handlers and assistants.

13.As Regional Manager, Pretoria Ms Roux is in receipt of a Total Employment Package of

R 44 672.50(forty-four six hundred and seventy two rand, fifty cents) per month^{12 .} The secondment allowance of R 9000 (nine thousand rand) per month additional to her monthly remuneration brings her total remuneration to R 53 672.50 (fifty three thousand six hundred and seventy two rand and fifty cents) per month.

14.The decision to grant a secondment allowance to Ms Roux was made by her employer, the RAF, and continues to be paid to her by the RAF on the basis of an acceptance that "your workload will without doubt increase". The RAF has not asked the Commissioners to comment on the workload of Ms Roux as secretary to the Commission nor on the rationale for or advisability of continuing to make payment of this allowance to her.

15.The remuneration of the Commissioners themselves is as follows:

1.The Chairperson is a Judge of the High Court and receives monthly remuneration of R 35 040.17 (thirty five thousand and forty rand) per month. The RAFC Act provides¹³ that the remuneration of the Chairperson (who must be a judge) may be higher than other members of the Commission. Judge Satchwell receives no additional remuneration as Chairperson of the Commission. As and when a Judge is seconded from normal place of residence to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein or the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, then such judge is granted a secondment allowance of R 3500 per month or R 300 per day¹⁴

ii.Mr Zakhele Sithole is a chartered accountant in private practice. He is remunerated at the rate determined by the Auditor-General of R 500 per hour plus VAT. Over the ten months of the Commission, Mr Sithole's firm,

Fisher, Hoffman and Sithole, have been paid R 267 000 (Two hundred and sixty seven thousand rand) for the services rendered by him to the Commission.

iii.Ms Riah Phiyega is a Senior General Manager at Transnet. She continues to perform all her duties at Transnet and renders services to the Commission on a part time basis. The CEO of Transnet indicated to the former Minister of Transport that Transnet itself would expect no fee from the Commission. Ms Phiyega has not to date received any additional remuneration but the Commission has budgeted for and would wish to pay to Ms Phiyega an honorarium in appreciation of her services.

16. The three Commissioners all work in Johannesburg. The Commission has an office in Pretoria where Ms Roux lives and works. While there were public hearings during 1999 the Commissioners commuted to Pretoria, the Chairperson doing so more frequently to attend the Pretoria office. The Commissioners now intend to peruse documentation, hold meetings with experts and others parties, and convene their own discussions in Johannesburg.