The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has admitted to misleading the public when it encouraged crash victims to lodge claims with the fund without using lawyers.
“The Act (Road Accident Fund Act) does allow for direct claims; however, the system is just not friendly to it,” said RAF spokesperson McIntosh Polela after being asked about the challenges of lodging a claim with the RAF without a lawyer.
This is a significant admission by a senior member of RAF, as the entity has for years been encouraging claimants to claim directly without a lawyer in order to avoid exorbitant legal fees. Through their media campaigns carried out over the years, RAF said direct claims were often made seamless and faster to the benefit of the claimants.
We need strategic reforms within the RAF and put out there legislation for this system to work.
— RAF’s suspended senior marketing manager Hlami Mathye
However, on Wednesday Polela and RAF’s suspended senior marketing manager Hlami Mathye told the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that even if they (she and Polela) were to be in a car accident, they would never lodge a claim without a legal representative.
Mathye said the RAF had always advocated for direct claiming, but the message became convoluted when former CEO Collins Letsoalo was hired in 2019 and asked them to remove any marketing material that encouraged it.
She said this move was one of the key drivers of the new transformative strategy of the RAF at the time.
“I will say publicly, I will never come to the RAF and lodge [a] claim directly. I will not be able to fill in the RAF1 form. That’s the answer. I’ve got an MBA. I can’t fill the RAF1 form..”
The RAF1 form is a statutory 16-page document that claimants must complete accurately and in full to be accepted as a valid claim. Mathye said the form was too complicated for an average person to fill in.
“When we were sitting around as team members putting that RAF1 form together, we were all looking at each other. We told ourselves that we would not be claiming directly [if we were to be in an accident].
The Scopa inquiry, which began formal hearings on October 7, is investigating the governance of RAF.
Polela said when he came into office in 2023, Letsoalo’s strategy was already in place.
“Ever since I came, it was made abundantly clear to me that legislation does not, as we sit here now, allow for direct claiming. There are only 3% of people who came directly; 97% of the people claim by way of lawyers.” said Polela.
He added that as the face of RAF, he always encourages people he meets on the streets to claim directly despite Letsoalo’s position on the matter.
He added that they do not deter people who do come to them directly.
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