Dear Editor
Questions from the DA in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) have revealed that Minister Barbara Creecy must intervene immediately to stop the RAF’s continued illegal claims practices, or she will be complicit in breaking the law. The Minister must act now to stop the RAF from denying road accident victims their rightful compensation.
The RAF1 form, which stems from a Board Notice adopted in 2022, requires road accident victims to supply a long list of documents in order for their claim to be accepted – far more than required by the RAF Act. This has meant that thousands of claimants have had their claim rejected, despite them complying with the law. In addition to denying rightful claimants, this also means that the RAF is accumulating billions of rands in claims liabilities that are not recorded anywhere.
Testimony from the Legal Practitioners Indemnity Insurance Fund (LPIIF) revealed the damage this is doing to the legal profession. RAF incompetence alone has the potential to sink the LPIIF, which spends over half of its budget on RAF cases alone (despite covering all aspects of the legal profession). This is yet another example of the toxic effect of the RAF on the broader medical and legal systems, where institutions are being bankrupted or jeopardised by the RAF’s mismanagement and malfeasance.
Our line of questioning made it clear: if the Minister is allowing the RAF to continue with its claims process in effective contravention of the RAF Act and judgments setting aside the Board Notice and the RAF1 Form, she is in violation of the law. She must intervene immediately to secure the withdrawal of these illegal practices. If she does not, she will be responsible for denying thousands of accident victims their rights, and for the accumulation of billions of rands in invisible debt that the fiscus cannot afford.
Regards
Patrick Atkinson MP
DA Spokesperson on SCOPA