RAF In the News

Written By Jeanette Chabalala | Published on 4 May 2026 | Sowetan The cash-strapped Road Accident Fund (RAF) is facing a daunting task of re-rolling hundreds of claims it rejected from four years ago based on information claimants provided on the RAF1 form, which has now been declared unlawful. This will be in addition to the 430,000 claims backlog the RAF is grappling with. Claimants who previously used the RAF1 form and were rejected for noncompliance had been given until September 30 to resubmit their claims. The resubmissions stand to give the RAF a financial headache that could run into billions, as it is estimated that 600,000 claims were rejected as a result of the RAF claim form, which it unlawfully introduced in 2022. The Supreme Court of Appeal last week declared the form unlawful and ordered the RAF to revert to the older form it introduced in 2008. The

Written By Mthobisi Nozulela | Published on 30 April 2026 |   Moonstone Information Refinery The Road Accident Fund (RAF) could face a “massive influx of claims” – liabilities it has not recognised and may not be able to meet – if its controversial RAF 1 claim form is ultimately set aside. That warning appears in a section of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ draft RAF oversight inquiry report, which was discussed at the committee’s meeting on 24 April. The draft adds that the impact could have “severe financial consequences on the business of the RAF… and society as a whole”. From hearings to deliberations SCOPA’s inquiry into the RAF – initiated after concerns about governance failures, misleading information provided to Parliament, and the Fund’s long-standing financial instability – concluded its public hearing phase in early 2026 after months of testimony from the RAF, government departments, regulators, and industry bodies.

Written By Roy Cokayne | Published on 4 May 2026 | MoneyWeb It appears increasingly likely the Road Accident Fund (RAF) will require a significant government bailout. This follows the RAF receiving another bloody nose from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), which on Thursday dismissed, with costs, its appeal against a high court judgment that declared a Board Notice and its RAF1 Form unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid. Read: RAF counter application over ‘blank cheque’ claims dismissed Mandatory mediation of RAF cases ‘a failure’ RAF gets fourth CEO in seven months It has been estimated the RAF has about R500 billion in unqualified contingencies, a portion of which is attributable to the fund rejecting claims that complied with the RAF Act but did not comply with the Board Notice and RAF1 Form. Attempts at the weekend to obtain comment from RAF board chair Kenneth Brown and Songezo Zibi, chair of

Written By Mthobisi Nozulela | Published on 17 April 2026 |  IOL The Supreme Court of Appeal  (SCA) has ruled that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) must compensate all road accident victims, including undocumented foreign nationals, finding that “any person” in the RAF Act includes them. IOL previously reported that the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria struck down a RAF directive requiring foreign nationals to prove legal presence in South Africa at the time of injury to claim compensation. A full bench of three judges, led by Judge Norman Davis, set aside the directive to the extent that, in respect of foreign claimants, it requires that proof of identity must be accompanied by documentary proof that the claimant was legally in South Africa at the time of the accident. “These accidents don’t discriminate in respect of the victims thereof between race, gender, age or between illegal foreigners and citizens of this country,” Davis said

Written By Greg Ardé | Published on 10 March 2026 | Daily Maverick The Road Accident Fund faces an imminent financial crisis, threatening a R400bn hole in the national budget due to mounting debt and mismanagement. Penny-wise South Africans are basking in the general Budget hurrah. A bit of good news is like a tonic, boosting cautious optimism that SA Inc has finally started to tidy its books and is poised to turn the corner. But the ticking time bomb of state-owned enterprise (SOE) debt, particularly the calamitous Road Accident Fund (RAF), threatens to explode. Debt estimates of the RAF differ. The problem is that the RAF debt is not properly quantified. Contingent liabilities could be above R400-billion. RAF contingent liabilities are potential future costs linked to the fund that are not yet fully certain, but could fall on the RAF, and ultimately the state, if certain claims, court matters or

Published on  9 February 2026 | Moonstone Information Refinery Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has sharpened the spotlight on the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS) Bill, pressing the Department of Transport on whether the long-stalled legislation can – or should – be applied retrospectively to deal with the Road Accident Fund’s vast legacy liabilities. The issue surfaced during SCOPA’s engagement with the Ministry of Transport on 4 February as part of its review of executive and ministerial oversight over the past five years. Although the department provided an update on the status of the RABS Bill, it was committee members’ concern about what happens to existing RAF Act claims that dominated the discussion. SCOPA chairperson Songezo Zibi (pictured) put the question bluntly: when the RABS Act comes into force, what happens to claims lodged under the current RAF Act – do they fall away, or does the new

Written by Sinenhlanhla Masilela | Published on 27 November 2025 | The Mercury A Limpopo man’s claim from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) failed after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria determined that he was not a victim of a hit and run. Instead, the court determined that he had been involved in a fight where a car was used as a weapon. Oscar Mashengani was hit by a car in the early hours of January 1, 2019, after his opponent, Tendani Edwin Ramunenyiwa ran him over following a fight at Fish Point Tavern in Vleifontein, Louis Trichardt. The fight started after the tavern owner switched off the music and asked Mashengani and his friends to leave the premises. Mashengani asked the owner to lend him a bucket in order to carry the liquor that was remaining – his request was not denied. However, Ramunenyiwa was against the idea,

Written By Nonkululeko Njilo  | Published on November 9th, 2025 | Daily Maverick. As Parliament’s oversight inquiry into allegations of maladministration, financial impropriety and misuse of public funds at the Road Accident Fund continues, four top executives have been suspended. Whether this will improve the fund’s operations and restore public trust remains unclear. In the wake of explosive evidence of the Road Accident Fund’s accounting practices and its collapsing claims system, the board has suspended four top executives – the acting CEO, the chief financial officer (CFO), chief governance officer and the head in the office of the CEO – on precautionary terms with immediate effect.   City Press has named three of them: acting CEO Phathutshedzo Lukhwareni, CFO Bernice Potgieter and chief governance officer Mampe Kumalo.  The RAF noted on Friday afternoon: “These precautionary measures do not in any way constitute a finding of wrongdoing against the affected officials but are intended