RAF assets targeted by claimants
The movable assets of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) at its Centurion head office are in danger of being sold via auction.
This follows its failure to obey High Court judgments and orders to pay 62 victims of motor vehicle accidents R33.6m.
The 62 claimants issued writs of execution in various divisions of the High Court and the attachment of movable property of the RAF by the Sheriff of the High Court for the Centurion East district.
The intention is that the attached movable property of the RAF will be sold through a sale in execution to satisfy the judgments.
Wolmarans Incorporated Attorneys MD Gavin Roberts who is representing the claimants, told Moneyweb the RAF is not processing any claim where a medical aid scheme has paid the medical costs arising from a road accident.
Roberts said this led to him executing writs of execution against the RAF because it failed to pay the claims of the 62 claimants within 180 days of the date of the court order.
This resulted in the RAF applying to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) for a stay of execution of these writs, with the Sheriff of the High Court for the Centurion East district and the 62 claimants listed as respondents.
This application was launched by the RAF when the removal of its movable assets was threatened for the purposes of a planned sale in execution.
The basis for the stay of execution was the RAF’s pursuit of an appeal against a successful application by Discovery Health to review and set aside the directive issued by the fund on 12 August 2022 that no payments must be made to claimants if their medical aid scheme has already paid for their medical expenses arising from a road accident.
Moneyweb notes that the court declared this RAF directive unlawful.
The court refused an application by the RAF for leave to appeal this judgment, as did the SCA.
The RAF subsequently made a final attempt at obtaining leave to appeal from the Constitutional Court – which has now been refused.
This application was still pending when the RAF’s application for a stay of execution was heard in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) on 29 August.
Judge Norman Davis dismissed with costs the RAF’s application for a stay of execution in a judgment handed down on 28 September.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
