RAF In the News

Written by Masoka Dube | Published on 6 November 2026 | The Citizen Road accident victims are being left in pain as private hospitals refuse to treat them under RAF undertaking certificates. Road accident victims are being left in pain as private hospitals and specialists reportedly refuse to treat them under the Road Accident Fund’s (RAF) undertaking certificates because of delays in settling bills. The undertaking certificate is part of the compensation awarded to successful claimants, allowing them to receive medical treatment from specialists, with the health care providers submitting invoices to the RAF for payment. Road accident victims left in pain as RAF delays payments But repeated delays in settling these invoices have made private health care providers wary of accepting RAF patients. Some pay out of their own pockets and submit claims to the RAF for reimbursement. However, the process can take up to two years. Others, who

Written by Warren Hawkins | Published on 2 Nov 2026 | Newsday Since its introduction on 1 May 1997, the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy has increased from 9c per litre to R2.25 per litre. In 1986, the South African government passed the Motor Vehicle Accidents Act, scrapping the requirement for drivers to purchase individual statutory insurance policies. As a result, funding shifted to a dedicated fuel levy, automatically extending statutory third-party injury protection to all road users without requiring motorists to pay an upfront private premium. When the Road Accident Fund commenced on 1 May 1997 to replace earlier transitional bodies, the dedicated fuel levy was extended, and the RAF inherited the 9c-per-litre tax. At first, the levy was increased by between 3c and 5c per litre, reaching 21.5c per litre of petrol or diesel in 2003, contributing R3.51 billion to the fund. On 1 April 2006, the South

Written by Steve Murphy | Published on 22 Oct 2026 | BusinessDay Auditor-general warns of ‘material uncertainty’ over Road Accident Fund’s future. The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons after publishing its March year-end 2026 results. The auditor-general’s damning finding to parliament summed it up: “I draw attention to note 32 to the financial statements, which indicates that a net loss of R145.7bn was incurred during the year ended 31 March 2026 and, as of that date, the total liabilities exceeded its total assets by R439.49bn. “As stated in note 32, these … indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern.” The facts below suggest this is an understated description of the problem. Any private sector insurer facing such an assessment would be forced to close. But the RAF

Written by Roy Cokayne | Published on 16 Oct 2026 | Moneyweb The court orders the RAF to stop reducing compensation because medical schemes have paid claimants’ treatment costs. The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been interdicted with immediate effect by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) from making any deductions from compensation paid to claimants on the basis that their medical expenses have been or will be paid by their medical aid schemes. The SCA issued this ruling in a judgment handed down on Friday to an appeal lodged by Discovery Health. The appeal related to a December 2024 judgment of a full bench of the High Court in Pretoria dismissing Discovery’s request for an order declaring the RAF to be in breach of a previous high court order related to the fund’s liability for the payment of the past medical expenses of road accident victims who are members

Written by Wayne Duvenage | Published on 9 Oct 2026 | Daily Maverick The Road Accident Fund’s (RAF’s) crisis is not primarily a failure of revenue collection. It is the result of years of weak leadership, poor administration and inadequate oversight. Redesigning how the public pays will achieve little unless the government first fixes how the fund operates. Recent statements from the Department of Transport indicate that the government is reconsidering how the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is financed. It argues that electric and hybrid vehicles will very gradually erode fuel-levy revenue, prompting the consideration of alternative funding via a previously failed third-party insurance scheme, while not recognising the real issues that need to be addressed. There is nothing wrong with evaluating new models. However, it is futile to find new ways of pouring money into a scheme where funds are being wasted on a grand scale. Electric and hybrid

Written by Calvin Swemmer | Published on 6 Oct 2026 | Newcastillian News Changes to South Africa’s Road Accident Fund legislation are being finalised, with government preparing amendments covering claims, rehabilitation, dispute resolution and the treatment of claims involving foreign nationals. The Department of Transport confirmed the work during a briefing to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. According to Parliament’s official report on the briefing, Acting Transport Director-General Mokonyama Mathabatha told committee members that amendments were being considered in four areas: capped claims, rehabilitation, mediation and conciliation, and claims involving foreign nationals. “All these issues are in the amendment Act that we are finalising. The Act in its current form makes the scheme not sustainable,” Mathabatha told the committee. The announcement does not mean that RAF claim rules have already changed. The proposed amendments must still move through the legislative process, including being tabled before

Written by Sibongile Maputi | Published on 6 Oct 2026 | Parliament of the Republic of South Africa The Portfolio Committee on Transport heard on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, that amendments to the Road Accident Fund (RAF) Act are being contemplated and will soon be tabled before the committee. The Department of Transport’s acting Director-General Mokonyama Mathabatha told the committee that amendments are being considered to four aspects of the legislation, namely capped claims, rehabilitation, mediation and conciliation, and claims by foreign nationals. “All these issues are in the amendment Act that we are finalising. The Act in its current form makes the scheme not sustainable.” Mr Mathabatha was part of the departmental delegation briefing the committee on the department’s audit outcomes and annual performance plans. Also present in the meeting were the South African National Roads Agency Limited, the Road Accident Fund and Airports Company of South Africa, who

Written By Stephen Grootes | Published on 5 Oct 2026 | Daily Maverick The Road Accident Fund is buckling under unpaid claims, costly payouts and shrinking fuel-levy revenue. Reform must protect victims without deepening inequality. The RAF is in crisis and needs a fundamental overhaul of both its funding model and payouts before declining fuel-levy revenue makes the system unsustainable. A few years ago, when I was younger and much more interesting, I happened to find myself being despatched to some boring political case about which nobody now cares in the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg.  While there I happened to sit for a very unproductive hour in the motion court, the place where motions are put and logistics are sorted out. I noticed that there was a long queue of advocates who all had cases that went “surname” vs the fund. I didn’t really understand what

Written By Roy Cokayne  | Published on 31 July 2026 | Moneyweb Accident victims association proposes a system that will fast-track claims ready for payment, without waiting for the RAF’s bigger problems to be fixed first. The Association for the Protection of Road Accident Victims (Aprav) has proposed the creation of a national Settlement Hub as a simple way to address the crisis at the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and clear its backlog of about 100 000 claims. It would involve funding from National Treasury to clear claims that are ready to be settled without waiting for the RAF’s bigger problems to be fixed first. The ‘bigger problems’ were summarised by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) chair Songezo Zibi, who said on Friday the RAF is chronically underfunded – and even when its governance and operational problems are resolved, there will not be enough money to meet all the claim