Road Accident Fund CEO Collins Letsoalo. Picture: Zelda Venter
While the Road Accident Fund acknowledged that it is facing difficulties, it gave the assurance that it is not “imploding” but rather “floating” and has paid out R45.1 billion in claims in the 2023/24 financial year.
This decreased slightly from R45.7 billion in 2022/23.
The RAF’s CEO, Collins Letsoalo and its executive team on Monday addressed the media to shed light on its annual financial performance.
Letsoalo said while they have not achieved everything they have hoped to, they have under the circumstances made some inroads. This, he said, despite the fact that the fuel levy of R2.18 a litre, has not increased over the past three years.
They have received R48.6bn from the levy during the 2023/24 financial year.
He said the fund’s performance over this time must be viewed against the backdrop that he and his executive have “inherited” a fund which was doomed to fail. According to him, the RAF’s problems and challenges are historic in a lot of ways.
Letsoalo said when they took over, the short term debt stood at about R19 bn and they now managed to reduce it to 8.271 bn ‒ almost half of when they started.
The most contentious issue, Letsoalo said, remained the funds’ payments towards legal costs ‒ which at present stands at R3.899 bn. He said this is a reduction of about R4.89 bn this financial year. He said due the fund’s new turn-around strategy, they have saved about R24 bn in legal costs.
According to him the legal costs would have increased to over R50 bn by 2027/28 if they did not implement their new operating model.
Letsoalo further explained that their backlogs have increased slightly by 1.2%, and said that they could do better. They have finalised slightly more than 63 000 of the 79377 claims that were registered last year.
About R12.7 bn was paid in terms of general damages. “We still don’t know what general damages are. It’s mostly sorry money people get from the fund,” Letsoalo remarked.
He said the fund is trying to settle claims by agreement between the parties rather than fighting in court and they have also made inroads in this regard.
“If we did not change the RAF’s model, it would have collapsed… We said our aim was to make sure we settle more claims and litigate less.”
Letsoalo slammed accusations that the RAF is responsible for the backlogs in the Gauteng courts, where trial dates are now only issued in 2029.
“We don’t have anything to do with it, as 99% of all RAF cases on roll are someone vs the RAF. We hardly ever take someone to court.”
He added that if one considers that in 81.95 cases they have settled claims, it shows that the fund is set on settlements, rather than litigation.
But, he added, they are working with parties such as the Black Lawyers Association to arrive at a point to see if things on the court roll which are not complex matters, can be easier resolved.
Letsoalo said they have met with transport minister Barbara Creecy about twice since her appointment and she spoke to them about the congested rolls relating to RAF matters and that something needs to be done about it. “And that is what we are doping,” Letsoalo said.
Regarding rumours that he is going to resign, Letsoalo gave the assurance that he is going nowhere.
He also confirmed that the fund will continue fighting a court order that it has to pay all foreigners in the country who fall victim to road accidents. He said while the law is that foreigners who are legally here must be paid, the fund will honour this. But, he said they are proceeding with their appeal in terms of those who are illegally here, as the fund does not believe it has a duty towards them.
The RAF is meanwhile keeping a close eye on developments in terms of an amended RAF Bill, as Letsoalo believes changes to the law can go a long way to alleviate the fund’s problems.
Pretoria News
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
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