Weekly Highlights 22 October 2021

Weekly Highlights 22 October 2021 - Issue No. 111 Dear Colleagues In this issue On 20 October 2021, the world celebrated Global Eth- ics Day. The initiative is an opportunity for individuals and Well done, Sandisiwe Mgobo, for Providing organisations to explore the meaning of ethics in their daily Fantastic Client Service! lives and come together to identify and address the most critical issues facing society. This year marks the eighth RAF Employee Awards celebration of this day, which has become a significant event for organisations committed to doing business ethi- Breast Cancer Survivors – Celebrating Our cally and responsibly. Heroines Understanding the Benefits of the RAF’s Clean The Ethics Office of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) rolled Desk Campaign out the Ethics Week Campaign from 18 to 22 October 2021 with the aim of shining the spotlight on the impor- RAF Activations - october transport month tance of ethics while conducting our RAF duties. Our organisational theme for this year’s Ethics Week is: “Creat- ing a Culture of Moral Heroes.” Mental health during covid-19 As part of the Week’s activities, RAF Board Member and Chairperson of the Social and Ethics Committee, Dr No- COVID-19 myth: jab causes male infertility and monde Mabuya-Moloele; RAF Chief Executive Officer, Mr sexual dysfunction Collins Letsoalo; and business units such as Compliance, Forensic Investigation and Risk Management shared mes- COVID-19 Statistics sages of support. the fun page The Ethics Office has urged RAFzins to take the time to reflect on the ethical lessons learnt from the lifestyle Letters to the Editor and workplace changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. They furthermore reminded employees on the We invite our readers to share their importance of living our organisational Values of Integ- comments, feedback, and suggestions rity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence with us. Readers are encouraged to submit which will help us navigate through these ever-changing their letters, of no more than 200 words, to times. [email protected] and TholakeleR@raf. co.za. We are looking forward to hearing from Enjoy this week’s Highlights! you. Kind regards Editor: Thabang Mahlatsi ([email protected]) Sub-editor: Tholakele Radebe ([email protected]) Internal Communication Reporter: Tintswalo Nkuna ([email protected]) Editor-In-Chief: Anton Janse van Rensburg ([email protected])

Well done, Sandisiwe Mgobo, for Providing Fantastic Client Service! by Tintswalo Nkuna and Thabang Mahlatsi What is the misconception that others have about the work you do? The misconception that others including claimants may have about the work I do is to assume that most, if not all cases are similar or the same, therefore similar, or the same outcomes are expected. I handle and settle each case based on its own merits. What do you enjoy most about your job? Sandisiwe Mgobo The aspect that I enjoy most about my job is to engage Claims Handler: Determination, Menlyn Branch and explain offers to attorneys and attend to any queries This week Sandisiwe Mgobo, Claims Handler in the that they may have. Menlyn Branch, deserves a special mention for her outstanding service to our stakeholders. RAF Man- Where do you draw inspiration for the work that you agement recently received a letter of appreciation do? from Law firm, V Nkuna-Mboweni Inc, which lauded the manner in which Mgobo conducted her work with In my previous job as a Team Lead before I joined the them. In the letter, she is described as an individual organisation, my manager was Mrs Jean Thewu who that is professional, efficient and diligent. demonstrated great leadership and organisational man- agement skills with good work ethics. I always aspire and Ruan T Wessels from V Nkuna-Mboweni Incorporated strive to resemble her. writes: Which of the ICARE Values do you resonate with and “The legal battles wherein the Road Accident Fund and why? claimant’s attorneys regularly find themselves in are not for the faint-hearted. Yet, Ms Mgobo has – through her I truly resonate with all the RAF ICARE Values, because I diligent and transparent work ethic – managed to dutifully believe a well-rounded employee will provide effectiveness fulfil her duties as a claims handler.” and efficiency to the organisation in all material times, and that will foster a productive and good organisational Please click here for the original detailed letter. culture. We want to applaud Sandisiwe for her sterling effort and What do you do to relax in your spare time? call on all RAFzins to emulate her. As the RAF makes strides towards adopting a customer-centric model in its Any spare time I have is an opportunity to spend some operations, employees such as Sandisiwe are what we quality time with my lovely family: my husband and my envision a transformed, financially stable and efficient son, doing any outdoor activities. RAF to be. Well done!! If you could be a superhero, what would your super- We chatted with Sandisiwe to find out more about her power be and why? job, motivations and some hidden talents. Enjoy!! If I could be a superhero, my superpower would be the Please tell us briefly about your job at the RAF power of healing. I would heal all diseases and sicknesses in the world including COVID-19, so that we can all live I am currently employed as a Claims Officer in the De- happy and healthy lives. termination Department. My role entails the assesment, quantification and settlement of claims lodged with the What is the one thing that your colleagues might not Fund. know about you? I engage with plaintif attorneys to ensure that all documen- tation required is in order and that settlement will be fair. My colleagues do not know I am a great cook and I enjoy spending time cooking in my kitchen. I prepare CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE various dishes, be it local or international recipes. Tintswalo Nkuna is a Call Centre Agent, based in Eco 2 Glades Thabang Mahlatsi is a Specialist: Internal Communication, based in Eco Glades

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Breast Cancer Survivors – Celebrating Our Heroines by Zamantimande Ledwaba and Kgomotso Gaula October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which was swollen, and it concerned me a lot to the point is an annual campaign to increase awareness of the where I had to consult my doctor. In my case it was not disease. In this week’s edition, we bring you testi- a lump but a blood clot. monies of three strong, bold, beautiful, and coura- geous RAF women who have battled breast cancer. What thoughts did you have when you heard about the diagnosis? In the midst of their darkest hours, these women de- cided to put up a good fight against the disease instead The first thought that popped into my mind was death. I of accepting defeat. To them, life was worth fighting for was really confused and very emotional. as it's a precious gift. We hope their stories and experi- ences shed more light on this disease. Most of all, we Who/what/where did you turn to after finding out hope that it will motivate others to be vigilant, do regular about your diagnosis? self-examinations and make regular doctors’ visits. I went home and told my closest family. It was too much to bear, and I ended up making multiple calls to people close to me. The following day I consulted my family doctor for more information. What is the one thing you wish you knew before you started treatment? I wish I knew what the side effects of cancer treatment were, and what I had to go through. I also wish I knew all the right medication to take and the right diet to fol- low. What was your biggest self-discovery or revelation after you were diagnosed? I discovered how my body reacted to different kinds of medication. I started losing hair, my skin became darker, I lost much weight, and suffered from stress, depression, and anxiety. Nonny Lokailwe Hospital Service Consultant Mahikeng Tell us a little bit about your journey. When were you diagnosed with breast cancer, and how did you find out? When I heard I had cancer, I shook my head, and I was overwhelmed with a lot of emotions. I was diagnosed with stage II of aggressive cancer on 10 November 2019. Everything happened in a short space of time and on 23 November 2019 I went for an operation and my breast was gone just like that. Before my diagnosis I had discovered that my breast CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE Continues on next page 4

Breast Cancer Survivors – Celebrating Our Heroines (Cont.) What was the most difficult part of your journey and how did you overcome it? The most difficult part was when I went thought che- motherapy, radiation and also financial crises. I made it through the support of my family and friends and believ- ing that eventually everything would be fine. Where are you now in your journey with cancer? I am almost at the end of my journey, and I am at a point where I know that what didn’t kill me actually made me much stronger. What advice would you give on how to best support a loved one going through breast cancer? I would advise everyone who is facing this DEVIL to always have a positive mindset, share with positive people, invite God into their situation, believe that noth- ing is impossible, live their lives to the fullest and cher- ish every moment of their lives. They must also always show gratitude for everything good happening in their lives and adopt a good attitude. In addition, they must take their treatment no mat- Joy Mabaso ter how difficult it is and try not to give up during their journey. Following a healthy diet and being active at all Senior Validation and Verification Officer times are also of the utmost importance. Menlyn Branch What words of wisdom and/or advice would you Tell us a little bit about your journey. When were give to any young adult facing cancer or another you diagnosed with breast cancer, and how did you life-threatening illness? find out? “Never be ashamed of a scar. It simply means we are I got diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2017. I stronger than whatever tried to hurt us.” found out I had the disease by accident. I had pain in my left breast which would not stop. I went to the doctor and got some medication, but the pain wouldn’t stop. I went back to the doctor who then advised me to have a mammogram. To my surprise, it was my right breast which had a cancerous lump. What thoughts did you have when you heard about the diagnosis? I was in a state of shock and disbelief. There was no one in my family I knew of who had had breast cancer before. Who/what/where did you turn to after finding out Continues on next page CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE 5

Breast Cancer Survivors – Celebrating Our Heroines (Cont.) about your diagnosis? give to any young adult facing cancer or another life-threatening illness? My family and my Christian family. Don’t let your diagnosis be a death sentence and stop What is the one thing you wish you knew before living your life: live, laugh and love, above all, take your you started treatment? medication. People will always talk, and you can’t stop them. Hang around people who support you and bring I have lymphedema which makes my hand swollen, out the best in you. painful and very uncomfortable. This was caused by the doctor removing all my lymph nodes. I wish I knew about lymphedema before; I would have asked the doctor to first check if my lymph nodes were cancerous before removing them. The only good point is I have advised people who get diagnosed to inform their doc- tors about this before the operation. What was your biggest self-discovery or revelation after you were diagnosed? That my truth, reality and pain are known by myself and God and I don’t have to prove anything to the world. What was the most difficult part of your journey and how did you overcome it? Being told I am too sensitive; I have become lazy and the inability of certain people to understand that there are certain tasks I can no longer carry out as fast as I did before because of my lymphedema. Luckily for me, there was always a group of people who were sup- portive and understanding. I turned to the supportive people and ignored the rest. Having a very strong sup- port system and my faith also helped. Where are you now in your journey with cancer? Cyrillene du Toit I have tests every year and I have been cancer free Assistant: Judgement Monitoring from 2018. The only setback I have is lymphedema and and Litigation just that feeling of anxiety when waiting for your results Menlyn Branch every year to know if you are still fine. Tell us a little bit about your journey. When were What advice would you give on how to best sup- you diagnosed with breast cancer, and how did you port a loved one going through breast cancer? find out? You don’t have to say much, just be there for the per- I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2019. I had son, let the person going through the journey initiate annual mammograms done from the age of 40, and I the conversations relating to their condition. You can was very confident that I would never get cancer. And also drive them to their radiation or chemotherapy ses- then in 2019 my healthcare experts said they needed sions. to do a biopsy immediately, and it was confirmed that it was cancer. What words of wisdom and/or advice would you Continues on next page CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE 6

Breast Cancer Survivors – Celebrating Our Heroines (Cont.) What thoughts did you have when you heard about by accepting what I could not change and that every- the diagnosis? thing happens for a reason. My immediate thought was how and why, because to What was the most difficult part of your journey and my knowledge we have no history of breast cancer in how did you overcome it? the family. I was devastated and expected the worse. I never did self-examination because my thoughts were, I partly overcame claustrophobia because I had to drive “It will never happen to me”. to work alone after each radiation session in the early mornings. Who/what/where did you turn to after finding out about your diagnosis? What advice would you give on how to best support a loved one going through breast cancer? My biggest emotional support system was my immedi- ate family and my best/close friends. Ladies, please remember to self-examine regularly and report anything unusual to your doctor immediately. What is the one thing you wish you knew before My advice to support a loved one is to just be there for you started treatment? them, emotionally and physically, and never ever say it’s okay because it happens to a lot of other women I underwent surgery in May 2019 and from July to since it’s a different journey for everyone. August 2019 I received radiation (34 sessions). It was traumatic in the beginning because of my condition What words of wisdom and/or advice would you called cervical dystonia (also called spasmodic torticol- give any young adult facing cancer or another life- lis), in which neck muscles contract involuntarily, caus- threatening illness? ing the head to twist or turn to one side. In my case it was to the right and forward and I had to keep my head You may not always end up where you thought you to the left and keep still while undergoing radiation. were going, but you will always end up where you are meant to be. What was your biggest self-discovery or revelation after you were diagnosed? Zama Ledwaba is a Marketing Officer, based in the Menlyn Branch I discovered that I was able to overcome the obstacle Kgomotso Gaula is an EWS Specialist, based in the CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE Menlyn Branch 7

Understanding the Benefits of the RAF’s Clean Desk Campaign by Change Management The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) There are a number of activities that can be done dur- was signed into law on 27 November 2013 by the ing the Clean Desk Campaign that are simple to imple- then President of the Republic of South Africa, ment and have great benefits as outlined below. Jacob Zuma. The actual commencement date of the Act was on 1 July 2021. In line with the require- Benefit #1 Clean = Green = Cheap: ment that all organisations including the RAF have to demonstrate compliance with the legislation as outlined by the Eight Principles of POPIA, it also dictates that security as well as privacy policies and practices for the data that is handled by institu- tions be adhered to. In adherence to the prescripts of POPIA, the RAF is The Clean Desk Policy encourages the use of digital rolling out the Clean Desk Campaign to ensure secure documents as opposed to hard copy documents. This and proper management of data under the Fund’s care. encourages a paperless office environment and helps An effective clean desk effort involves participation us to be greener by default, and cuts down on printing and support of all RAF employees. It can effectively costs. protect paper documents that contain sensitive informa- tion about all relevant stakeholders. All employees are Benefit #2 Sensitive information is kept in control: required to familiarise themselves with the guidelines of this implementation and comply with the legislation. CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE Continues to next page 8

Understanding the Benefits of the RAF’s Clean Desk Campaign (CONT.) The most obvious benefit of the Clean Desk Policy is Benefit #5 Looking good: that employees will have full control of sensitive infor- mation, thus preventing easy access to it by everyone. Peripheral items like personal data should be locked away at the end of each day to prevent opportunistic theft of personal information and data. Continuous spot checks will ensure that printers and photocopies do not have documents that are left on or beside them. Meet- ing rooms will be regularly cleared of hard copy docu- ments left unattended and the whiteboards at the end of each meeting will be cleaned. Benefit #3 Help with compliance: As mentioned earlier in the Clean Desk Launch Com- Having the Clean Desk Policy in place makes office munication on 07 September 2021, implementing the space free of clutter. In today’s modern open-plan Clean Desk Policy has the added benefit of helping office, this is especially welcome. It removes piles of employees meet the requirements of the Occupational paper that create a mess and prevents the smell of old Health and Safety (OHS) Act, Facilities Management’s paper and food remains building up. A clean desk policy Housekeeping Policy and Records Management Direc- just generally creates a more positive place to work in tives. and is aligned with the Facilities Housekeeping Policy. Benefit #4 Keeping the organisation’s information When looking around the office at the variety of ways secure: that some of our employees use their desk space it may seem like an uphill struggle to implement the Clean Desk Campaign. The benefits of taking this step include everything from improved security to protection of pri- vacy, helping with security compliance, and making the office a pleasant environment to work in. The Clean Desk Policy should advocate that passwords 9 are never written down on a notepad. Outside of the Clean Desk Campaign, our ICT Department is also conducting a separate Password Management Drive to secure employees’ electronic resources. Ad hoc pass- word management is like leaving the keys to your office in the street with a sign saying, “Please feel free to use these keys at the RAF organisation over the road”. CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE

RAF ACTIVATIONS - October transport month by Stakeholder Relations Management Child Restraint Programme, Venue: Giyani, Limpopo Date: 20 October 2021 Roadblock and Taxi Rank Activation, Venue: KwaZulu Natal Date: 21 October 2021 CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE 10

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COVID-19 myth: Jab causes male infertility, sexual dysfunction by Nompilo Gwala (health-e.org.za) With vaccine hesitancy being a major problem “As we stand now, there is absolutely no reported side among people across the globe, health experts and effect or adverse event of testicular swelling in Trinidad officials have debunked the COVID-19 vaccine myth … and none that we know of anywhere in the world,” – that it affects male sexual function and fertility. he said during a press conference. In the past year, as fears around the coronavirus While researchers have conducted little research on pandemic grew, so did misinformation. The internet how the virus and vaccines affect the male reproduc- and other media platforms were flooded with myths tive system, recent investigations by physicians and and false information, with a recent COVID-19 myth researchers at the University of Miami uncover a clear circulating on social media platforms that there is a link link between COVID-19 infection and men’s sexual between vaccines and erectile dysfunction. health. Despite this being one of the more recently cited Ranjith Ramasamy, the Director of the Reproductive reasons for vaccine hesitancy – that COVID-19 vac- Urology Program at the University of Miami’s Miller cines could affect male fertility – the truth is there is no School of Medicine, and his team analysed the autopsy evidence to this effect. Instead, research has shown tissues of the testicles of six men who died of CO- that the virus that causes COVID-19 poses a risk for VID-19 infections. The study found that the COVID-19 both disorders. virus appeared in the tissues of one of the men and de- creased numbers of sperm appeared in three. Another Adding to the misinformation are utterances by celebri- patient, who beat COVID-19, had a testis biopsy about ties, such as a recent tweet posted by superstar rapper three months after his COVID-19 infection cleared up. Nicki Minaj about COVID-19 vaccines that caused a stir The biopsy showed the coronavirus was still in his across the globe. The rapper made claims about the testicles. side effects of the vaccine, saying that when a friend of her cousin got the jab, his testicles swelled up and he ‘Vaccines are safe’ became impotent. According to Ramasamy, his team discovered that CO- VID-19 affects the penis. The team analysed the penile “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his tissue from two men receiving penile implants, which friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became showed the virus was present seven to nine months af- swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting mar- ter their COVID-19 diagnosis. One of the men had mild ried, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on COVID-19 symptoms, while the other had been hospi- it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not talised, but both men developed serve erectile dysfunc- bullied.” tion due to the infection reducing blood supply to the penis. This suggests that even with minor COVID-19 — Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021 cases, the virus can cause severe erectile dysfunction after recovery. Taking all claims seriously Quick to debunk this COVID-19 myth was Trinidad’s health minister, Terrence Deyalsingh, who said that of- ficials “take all claims seriously”. CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE Continues on next page 12

COVID-19 myth: Jab causes male infertility, sexual dysfunction (Cont.) The team conducted additional research that showed According to the Centers for Diseases Control and that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines appear Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 vaccination is recom- safe for the male reproductive system. The team col- mended for everyone 12 years of age and older, lected semen samples of 45 men between 18 years old including people who are trying to get pregnant now or and older, before receiving either the Pfizer/BioNTech might become pregnant in the future, as well as their or Moderna vaccine and again more than 70 days after partners. receiving their second dose. There is no evidence that shows that any vaccines, “This, then, is another reason to get the vaccinations including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems – to preserve male fertility and sexual function,” said in women or men. – Health-e News Ramasamy. CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE Source: 13 https://health-e.org.za/2021/09/28/covid-19-myth-jab- causes-male-infertility-sexual-dysfunction/ Nompilo Gwala is a journalist at Health-e News South Africa’



THE FUN PAGE Today we take a humorous look at new employee experiences in the workplace. Enjoy!