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Keeping you updated on critical developments within the Road Accident Fund.
New RAF board faces threat of being declared delinquent
Written by Roy Cokayne | Published on 5 Mar 2024 It failed to heed advice to stop litigation against the Auditor-General… Just a few months into its tenure, the new board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is facing the threat of being declared delinquent after failing to reverse the decision of the previous board to institute litigation against the Auditor-General (AG). The legal action centres on the appropriate accounting standard to be used to prepare its 2021/22 financial results and the board’s rejection of directives the fund was given not to proceed with this litigation. RAF board chair Zanele Francois told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) last month the new board, which was appointed on 1 October 2023, had found no compelling reasons to change the previous board’s decision to institute litigation against the AG. Scopa was told the case was heard before a full bench of three judges in
Another blow for RAF
Written by Zelda Venter | Published on 21 Feb 2024 The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is wrong in insisting that it is not liable to compensate road accident victims for claims for medical expenses incurred by members of medical aid schemes, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria said. The court turned down an urgent application by the RAF brought in December to sidestep the payment of R33 million it owed a number of claimants for medical expenses paid to their medical aids following their injuries. The court at the time turned the fund’s application down and slapped the already cash-strapped RAF with a punitive costs order against it. The court this week issued its reasons – on the request of the fund – for its findings. The RAF argued that it should not be liable for past medical expenses where the injured person is a member of a medical scheme. This
Road Accident Fund executives must be charged for misleading Parliament
Issued by Alf Lees MP – DA Member of SCOPA | Published on 07 Feb 2024 The DA will be pursuing charges against Road Accident Fund (RAF) executives, under the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2004, for misleading Parliament by repeatedly insisting on using an accounting standard that falsifies the RAF’s current debt profile by as much as 90%. RAF CEO, Collins Letsoalo, and the RAF Board are asking Parliament to exercise its oversight role on financial statements that are misleading and do not reflect the true nature of RAF’s debt position, which at this point is estimated to be R300 billion. Such misrepresentation of information essentially amounts to fraud. Courts have previously ruled that presenting false information to Parliament is fraud, stating that “If Parliament is misled, or if individual members thereof are misled, whether expressly or by the withholding of information that must
Road Accident Fund | How to resolve governance battles
JOHANNESBURG – Professor Hennie Klopper believes the crisis at the Road Accident Fund, can be attributed to the abnormally high incidence of Road traffic accidents and the resultant flood of claims, inadequate funding as well as legislative attempts to solve a misidentified RAF problem. Professor Klopper, an Emeritus Professor at the University of Pretoria and a legal practitioner spoke to eNCA. Watch the videos here.
Discovery threatens RAF with contempt
Discovery Health has revealed it will seek to hold the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in contempt of court if it fails to comply with this week’s Constitutional Court decision to honour claims lodged on behalf of members injured in traffic accidents. A Business Day report says this follows it losing its legal battle to overturn a High Court interdict secured in 2022 declaring its decision to exclude claims from medical scheme members unlawful, after the Constitutional Court rejected its application to appeal the lower court’s ruling. In what the Business Day calls a surprise turn of events, RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo told the newspaper on Wednesday the RAF would not resume payments to medical schemes, despite the apex court’s decision. ‘We are surprised by Mr Letsoalo’s position, which appears not only to be antagonistic but also flies in the face of the clear and strong position taken by the courts,’
RAF won’t budge despite losing ConCourt leave to appeal high court ruling on medical scheme claims
Written by Neesa Moodley | Published on 19 October 2023 Medical scheme members can rest easy after the Constitutional Court this week ruled in favour of Discovery Health in an echo of an earlier high court ruling. But the Road Accident Fund is not budging on its stance. Discovery Health took the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to court to declare as unlawful the RAF’s directive issued in August to exclude medical scheme members’ claims, and for the RAF to resume the processing of members’ road accident-related claims. Discovery Health won the case. This week, the RAF’s application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court was refused, with a full costs order awarded to Discovery Health. The RAF directive, issued just over a year ago, instructed its various claims offices to stop processing medical scheme members’ claims. “This constituted clear discrimination against medical scheme members who are road users and
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) Amendment Bill 2023: A Look into Proposed Changes and Potential Impact
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has long been a subject of scrutiny and criticism in South Africa. Time and again, it has faced challenges in fulfilling its responsibilities to those affected by road accidents. Now, in light of these issues, the Department of Transport introduced the draft RAF Amendment Bill, 2023. A Brief Overview The draft bill, made public in August 2023, aims to alter the RAF’s future operations. The public has less than a month to add their voice to these amendments. What are the significant amendments? Overall, the draft suggests moving away from the current system, which compensates victims based on the actual damages suffered to a “structured benefit” structure. The amendment Bill represents a watered-down version of the RABS Bill which was rejected in its entirety in August 2017. 1. Structured Benefits Over Compensation Instead of compensating for actual damages, the RAF would cater for a structured
Big changes for the Road Accident Fund in South Africa – lawyers fight back
Published to BusinessTech on 19 September 2023 Legal experts are crying foul over proposed changes to the Road Accident Fund, which will see the fund severely cut down on the support offered to road accident victims and negate compensation in some cases entirely. The Department of Transport gazetted the draft Road Accident Fund Amendment Bill, 2023 for public comment on 8 September, giving commentators just one month to provide feedback on the bill. Broadly, the bill aims to make a lot of changes to the way the RAF actually works, but one of the more contentious points is moving from a compensation model to a “benefits” model for those who are claiming. According to Advocate Justin Erasmus, Chairperson of the Personal Injury Plaintiff Lawyers Association (PIPLA), an association representing approximately 300 Personal Injury lawyers, legal practitioners are moving heavily against the bill. He said that over 5,000 objections have already
Draft bill proposes restructure of RAF
Written by Zelda Venter | Published on 13 Set 2023 WHILE the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has been criticised and come under immense pressure over the years for failing to execute its mandate, an amended bill proposing changes is in the pipeline. The Department of Transport gazetted the draft RAF Amendment Bill, 2023, last month. It proposed changes to how the RAF will operate in South Africa in future. The Department of Transport has called for public comment on the bill by October 8. Shift from Compensation to Restricted Social Benefits The proposed amendments include a complete restructuring of the RAF, moving away from a “compensation” to a “social benefits” structure. Gert Nel, the head of a law firm that specialises in RAF matters, said the proposed amendments were a watered-down version of the erstwhile Road Accident Benefit Scheme. One of the proposals is to replace compensation with structured benefits.