Road Accident Fund hikes claim limits

The Road Accident Fund has increased the cap on its claims in line with inflation.

The new cap for maximum claims is R347,730, with effect from 31 July 2023, the RAF said. The changes were gazetted on Friday (28 July).

The caps apply to the two limits currently imposed on claims relating to a loss of income or support (if the breadwinner is killed) due to a road accident in South Africa. The caps are hiked periodically in line with inflation.

Drivers can still claim for all medical expenses arising from injury – provided it wasn’t a pre-existing injury before the accident – with no cap or limit applying.

This cover applies to all road users, including motor vehicle drivers and passengers, motorcycle drivers and passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.

The RAF is funded through taxes on fuel in South Africa.

Legal bodies this week raised serious concerns with the RAF in a memorandum sent to the group, claiming that it was failing in its basic mandate.

The lawyers said that delays and backlogs in registering and processing claims were causing damage and harm to victims of road accidents in the country.

New requirements set up to make claims have also led to even more hurdles for victims, putting the entire RAF in crisis, they said.

According to GroundUp, the lawyers said the RAF’s decision to do away with the panels of attorneys that previously investigated claims and managed litigation and settlements has proven disastrous.

The RAF now uses state attorneys for representation, but the authors of the memorandum say this “outsourcing to the department of justice” has led to unnecessary delays and wasteful expenditure on litigation in cases where a settlement could have been reached.

The memorandum also criticises the RAF for:

• refusing to cover expenses if these have already been paid by a victim’s medical aid, pointing out that this means victims lose out on medical benefits from their schemes;
• new requirements for lodging claims that have led to many claims being ignored, despite an Eastern Cape High Court ruling that the RAF should suspend the new process;
• reversing established practice by refusing to cover foreign nationals who can’t prove they are in South Africa legally;
• ‘’habitually failing to timeously make payment”, leading to sheriffs of the court enforcing orders of execution against the fund;
• staff remaining on paid suspension despite rulings by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

The memorandum asserts that basic office administration does not happen at the RAF and paints an alarming picture of an unresponsive organisation where emails go unanswered, claims are unacknowledged, documents are mismanaged and the helpline does not function.

The authors of the memorandum are asking for an urgent meeting with those responsible for the RAF.

In Chaos

The Lawyers’ take on the RAF underlines the utter chaos at the organisation highlighted by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in June.

The committee attempted to visit the offices of the RAF as part of its oversight responsibilities and, after initially being blocked from entering, eventually encountered a scene of “chaos”.

“When the committee eventually gained access after a protracted telephone exchange between the committee, Department of Transport officials and the RAF’s executive, whose absence was conspicuous, SCOPA soon realised why it had struggled to enter the building.

“The reign of chaotic disorder that characterises RAF’s working conditions soon became apparent,” it said.

SCOPA described the meandering hallway of RAF’s offices being littered with boxes upon boxes lining the walls, spilling onto the floor in a manner that resembled the clutter of a dumping site.

“The committee also learnt that most personnel are squatting in offices belonging to others and have brought their own chairs to sit on, because much of their office furniture has been confiscated by an order of the sheriff due to RAF’s failure to abide by several court rulings.

“Office desks and chairs currently in use bear sheriff stickers, signalling their imminent attachment,” it said.

“The chaos that besieges RAF is a clear indication that RAF is an institution in crisis,” it said.

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