RAF forced to pay R5bn in default claims
The Road Accident Fund's (RAF) decision to limit the use of a panel of attorneys has led to the entity paying out nearly R5bn in default claims because it did not have proper legal representation, reports News24.
The money was paid out between 2018 and 2023. Among these default judgments are claims which may not have warranted substantial settlement if defended.
This was the conclusion drawn by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which briefed Scopa on the RAF's finances on Friday.
Leonard Lekgetho, SIU chief operations officer, said the impact of not using its panel of attorneys and the lack of legal representation caused an increase in default judgments.
Lekgetho said the RAF had a panel of attorneys that represented it in court for cases involving claim disputes.
‘When the contract was coming to an end, a six month's extension was requested citing that the RAF was still busy with evaluating the tender and it was taking longer to finalise.’
'The contract with the panel ended in May 2020.
The tender under evaluation was subsequently cancelled, and the RAF had since foregone the use of the panel of attorneys.
At the time this occurred, it appears that the RAF had no back-up plan in place as to who will be representing the RAF in court,’ Lekgetho said. The RAF then decided to use the services of the State Attorneys Office.
Lekgetho added: ‘However, the process to get the State Attorneys appearance in court took longer and at this time the RAF had no representation in courts for at least a period of 12 months.’
According to News24, MKP MP David Skosana claimed that several legal firms are cashing in due to the chaos at the RAF.
DA MP Farhat Essack said the problems at the RAF have been going on for a long time.
‘It has become a cash cow. The question that has arisen from this, what could be done to deal with it from a crisis point of view. We need to begin declaring the CEO and the board incompetent. The incompetence at RAF is killing South Africans. These matters need to be addressed on an urgent basis,’ he said.
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.
