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Gert Nel dismisses RAF allegations
Law firm Gert Nel Incorporated CEO Gert Nel has dismissed allegations by suspended RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo, who accused the firm of irregularly benefiting from the Road Accident Fund. Nel says the claims are baseless and insists that its 25-year track record is proof of its ethical and lawful practice. Watch the full interview of Gert Nel on the Newzroom Afrika YouTube channel:
Gauteng high courts face crisis: Judicial Service Commission announces vacancies
Written by Zelda Venter | Published on 23 May 2025 | IoL While the Gauteng Division of the High Court (Pretoria and Johannesburg) is struggling to cope with the heavy workload, mainly due to too much work and too few judges, there may be light at the end of the tunnel as the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is looking to fill eight vacancies in this division. The JSC has called for nominations to fill these vacancies, as well as for candidates to apply for two vacancies in the Constitutional Court. It will also accept nominations of candidates to fill one vacancy in the Supreme Court of Appeal, one in the Land Court, as well as for three vacancies in the Johannesburg Labour Court. Two vacancies are open in the Mpumalanga division, while there is one vacancy open in the Free State and Limpopo divisions. The KwaZulu-Natal division has five vacancies
Pretoria law firm challenges mandatory mediation directive in Constitutional Court
Written by Zelda Venter | Published on 28 April 2025 | IoL A Pretoria law firm has turned to the Constitutional Court for direct access to the highest court in the country in an urgent bid to overturn a directive introducing mandatory mediation in the Gauteng Division of the High Court. Since last week, the Johannesburg and Pretoria high courts no longer allocate trial dates for civil cases (cases where evidence is being led, such as damages claims). Litigants, who in these cases want a judge to determine their issues, must first prove that they have tried to resolve their issues via mediation. A trial date will be allocated only if mediation does not resolve the issues, and they can prove via a certificate that they did try it. Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo in March issued a draft directive and called for objections from the public, lawyers, and interested
Concerns raised over mandatory mediation for civil trials in South Africa
Written by Zelda Venter | 7 April, 2025 | IOL (Independent Online) A leading Pretoria law firm has expressed its concerns regarding plans that from next week, a system will be introduced that no civil trials may proceed before a judge unless the parties have attempted mediation first. Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo last month issued a draft directive in which he explained plans in a bid to alleviate the congested civil trial rolls. He called on members of the legal fraternity to submit their comments before the directive came into force. Gert Nel, director of Gert Nel Inc, in a 44-page submission to Judge Mlambo, has expressed various concerns in this regard. He said while mediation can be a valuable tool to enhance access to justice, making it a mandatory gatekeeper to the courts raises serious concerns. The directive, among others, provides that all existing trial dates set down
Open Letter to the South African Public
Gert Nel Incorporated, recently addressed a letter to the management of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to request that they respect the attorney and client relationship between our firm and our clients, to stop their unsolicited messaging of represented claimants. The formal relationship between an attorney and his client starts the day a power of attorney is signed, signifying that the practitioner has taken the responsibility to represent the client, thus arising a contract between the practitioner and client. It is expected from the lawyer to act in the best interest of his client and is generally responsible for deciding on the means to achieve the claimant’s objectives. At the same time, the lawyer has a duty to consult with the client about the decisions and to give adequate information about the risks involved and reasonable available alternative strategies and decisions. Technically, the RAF represents the person who caused harm to the
Lawyer calls for intervention at the RAF
Written by Zelda Venter | Published on 2 February 2025 | IOL The time has come for South Africa’s leadership to take action and restore order and accountability to the Road Accident Fund. Without immediate intervention, the RAF will become yet another failed state-owned entity. This is according to attorney Gert Nel who specialises in RAF matters. Nel expressed his concern about how the fund is being operated. “Fuel levy payers’ money is wasted, real lives and livelihoods are at risk, with road crash victims bearing the brunt of systemic inefficiency and bureaucratic indifference.” He said the RAF is an institution charged with compensating road crash victims, yet it is deliberately distorting its purpose by bypassing legal obligations and operating in blatant defiance of court rulings. He accused the fund’s leadership of evading accountability while systematically denying justice to thousands of vulnerable victims. Nel said the cornerstone of the RAF’s
Expert accuses RAF of misrepresenting itself and its purpose
Written by Ina Opperman | Published on 24 January 2025 | The Citizen An expert attorney says the RAF is not doing its job and changed its purpose, despite parliament and the courts challenging the change. An expert says the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is misrepresenting itself and its purpose to avoid accountability while denying justice to vulnerable victims. However, the RAF says the expert is a former employee who set up his business based on the fund’s “inefficiencies.” Gert Nel from Gert Nel Inc., a law firm specialising in personal injury cases, including claims against the RAF, calls on people to imagine an institution charged with compensating road crash victims that deliberately distorts its purpose by bypassing legal obligations and operating in blatant defiance of court rulings. “This is the reality of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) whose leadership has unlawfully redefined its purpose – a calculated misrepresentation designed
Law firm slammed for allegedly pocketing R2.2 billion from RAF
Written by Kirsten Minnaar | Published on 10 January 2025 | DailyInvestor The CEO of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), Collins Letsoalo, has alleged that the law firm Gert Nel Attorneys has benefited irregularly from medico-legal claims. “Over the past period of five years, Gert Nel Attorneys has been paid over R2.2 billion from the RAF,” Letsoalo said. “For R2 billion, we know that is close to R500 million that he has made. You are not shocked why this man fights so much. He wants to continue.” When asked to break down this R2.2 billion figure, Gert Nel, CEO of Gert Nel Attorneys, told Daily Investor, “We intend to ask the RAF the same question – we do not have the specifics of this figure and hence cannot confirm or deny the correctness thereof.” A recent report by IOL states that the RAF has blocked the disbursement of R65 million
Discovery mulls SCA appeal after RAF medical costs ruling
Published on 8 January 2025 The Gauteng High Court dismissal with costs last month of Discovery Health’s application for an order declaring the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to be in breach of a previous High Court order was saluted by RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo, who described it as “a watershed” moment. However, said a legal expert, it did not absolve the agency of its obligation to reimburse road accident victims for their past medical expenses. The case dates back to 2022, when the RAF instructed its staff to reject claims from car crash victims if they had already been paid by medical schemes. Letsoalo said Discovery Health “must know we are coming for our money they have claimed illegally from the RAF”. He referred to paragraphs in the judgment saying the RAF was not an insurer, and said he had claimed for some time “that the RAF is a social