The Road Accident Fund is a state–supported insurance fund providing compensation to victims of road accidents in South Africa. In a spade of recent news articles, the Road Accident Fund has attempted to put the blame for its financial woes on the shoulders of the legal fraternity, alleging that attorneys’ costs are the reason that claims are not being paid out and that payouts are squandered on legal fees. The Road Accident Fund takes pride in its purported savings on legal costs.
It is, however, the conduct of the Road Accident Fund that is forcing claimants’ attorneys to proceed with litigation on behalf of claimants as there is no other way to prevent claims from prescribing and to protect claimants’ rights. Claimants’ attorneys have to bring application upon application in order to obtain trial dates or default judgment trial dates at Court. “For more than two decades the RAF adopted a policy of not settling claims unless a summons is issued and a trial date is allocated,” Professor Hennie Klopper recently stated: “These applications result in cost orders being granted against the Road Accident Fund”.
The CEO of the Road Accident Fund famously stated that, “Court orders are there to be appealed” and the Road Accident Fund more often than not engages in pointless and frivolous litigation (LPIIF, Discovery, Auditor General, Foreigner claims and others).
Some Judges have noted (for example, Davis J in the Pretoria High Court case of Nathram vs Road Accident Fund, 26 April 2024), that the Road Accident Fund is currently considered a delinquent litigant. Judges are handling cases on a default judgment basis as the Road Accident Fund is disregarding summonses sent to them (article in the Daily Maverick, 5 September 2024). The matters then get defended on the day of the hearing at Court. Due to a backlog at Court, claimants must wait several more years before their matters are finally before Court again, with trial dates currently being allocated in late 2029.
We, as claimant attorneys, will, however, persevere in protecting our clients’ rights and ensure that our clients’ claims are finalised and paid out by the Road Accident Fund.
Article prepared by Lizelle Marx under supervision of Louis Botha. Personal Injury Department.