Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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I do hope that the Minister of Finance gives some thought to increasing the contribution to the Road Accident Fund later this year. At the moment, on every litre of diesel and petrol that is sold an amount of R1,54 goes to the Road Accident Fund. As anyone knows, from the delays with payment by the Road Accident Fund for people waiting for payment, that is not enough. In some respects, the problem has been caused by the Road Accident Fund who has gone out of their way to settle cases far faster now than ever before, and encouraged people to approach them to get their cases settled directly, have obviously exacerbated the financial problems.
It did not help last year that no increase was given at all, even though the courts would typically increase most awards, if not exactly by inflation, but having regard to inflation, so that has allowed the Road Accident Fund to fall further behind in that regard.
There is no doubt that in future, as the impact of the changes that happened on 1 August 2008 play a bigger role, the Road Accident Fund will pay out less and less, but I still believe it needs a lump sum injection plus approximately 20c to 30c per litre of petrol and diesel or alternatively, if no lump sum contribution is given to them, at least 50c per litre. It is actually the one thing that one does get some value out of, and one forgets that the additional taxes that are placed on petrol by the government total R2,85 – and at least with the Road Accident Fund we know exactly what they are getting!
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Monday 13-Feb-17
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Comments
Melissa van Tellingen said:
on Wednesday 01-Mar-17 08:22 AM
I really hope the R1.54 increases as it will help with the massive backloggs in payment. I really thought that we pay much more that R1.54 everytime we fill up.
Jessica M said:
on Monday 27-Feb-17 09:49 AM
Well lets hope since they claim that they so broke. They so good at lying maybe they should cut back on their spending to actually pay for the clients that need it.
Cornelie said:
on Wednesday 22-Feb-17 08:30 AM
I also hope the contribution towards the RAF goes up with a lot and not just 20c in order to get the back log of payments up to date at the end of the day the clients are relaying on that money that needs to be paid from the RAF.
Ashleigh said:
on Wednesday 22-Feb-17 08:18 AM
I agree with the fund needing an increase especially with regards to the high settlement amounts. Hopefully the fund will make sure the clients do get paid and the finances are managed properly.
Zindy said:
on Monday 20-Feb-17 08:34 AM
Wow a whole R1,54 I am actually surprised surely more money can be contributed to the RAF. However they need to manage these funds correctly.
Liesl said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 04:49 PM
If one can go by how you struggle to get hold of them, how you have to continuously spoon feed and beg them to do things and the list can get very long then there is no doubt in my mind that a lot of their problems is internally inflicted.
Zanell said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 04:44 PM
I agree that it needs to increase, hopefully if it does it's misused by the fund and actually gets paid to injured clients.
Nicky said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 04:24 PM
An increase in the contribution to the RAF will be very beneficial to the claimants. The only question is whether an increase will be managed properly because I think that that's where are all the RAF's financial problems started-with mismanagement and their plan to limit claims and settle claims directly with claimants did not have the desired result for them.
Lourien said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 04:19 PM
If the government actually increase the metro police and reduce the speed limits on the roads, there might just be less accidents and the RAF will have less claims. They are always stating that they are out of money but there are so many claims as it is, it is an ongoing funding process. Lets hope the government increase the levies so that they can pay all the outstanding amounts for claims quicker.
joyce said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 02:47 PM
I think the RAF thought that encouraging people claiming direct to RAF would help the RAF save lot of money by paying the people claiming direct less amounts. Hopefully the Minister of Finance will increase the contribution to the RAF later this year.
Nikita said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 08:38 AM
I think that especially because the RAF did not get an increase last year that it is only fair they get one this year. There is no point in having this port available to victims of these accidents if they end up waiting 4-5 years to get something out of it. Most of these people are very badly injured and do not have medical aid access so they desperately need the money to heal and carry on with life.
Prishani said:
on Friday 17-Feb-17 08:34 AM
I do hope that the Minister decides to increase the amount contributed to the RAF, however I am not sure if this will help them solve their financial crisis. I think it still all comes down to proper management of the funds that they are provided with!
brumilde said:
on Thursday 16-Feb-17 10:21 AM
There is lots for the Minister of Finance to consider, but i agree that last year the RAF fund was not taking into consideration much. RAF are paying out less true because of the new act, but even now they are so slow to pay, but one wonders is it really just the budget or are there other factors involved as well. Poor staff for eg
Henrietta said:
on Thursday 16-Feb-17 10:14 AM
They do need the increase. We pay a lot for petrol, surely more money can be contributed to the Road Accident Fund. All motorist are "insured" by the Road Accident Fund at the end of the day. We all know when it comes to payments how pathetic they actually are and to think they convinced a lot of people to approach them directly.
Nina said:
on Thursday 16-Feb-17 09:33 AM
Scary to think that the RAF owes so much money regardless of the fact that R1,54 is contributed for every litre petrol. Clearly some changes are needed and we can just hope that this will happen soon.
Daniella said:
on Wednesday 15-Feb-17 04:25 PM
I think any increase that goes towards the RAF will be a huge help. To think about how much money they owe everyone is crazy! and the Finance Government should put that into consideration.
Thabitha said:
on Wednesday 15-Feb-17 08:38 AM
I hope the minister will give them something this time because it is not fair also to the victims to wait long time for payment, RAF is far behind they need lump sum in order for them to cash up.
Clare said:
on Wednesday 15-Feb-17 08:17 AM
I hope that Road Accident Fund does get an Increase, I feel that's is not far that people that get injured in a accident now suffering because if the Injuries they have (Cause by someone Else) have to wait for some source of Income to support there homes. I really am looking at a positive outcome.
Tersia said:
on Wednesday 15-Feb-17 07:56 AM
It's shocking to know that so little goes to the RAF, there is so many motor vehicles driving on our roads so surely there should be more than enough to can give extra. Then again more money for some people does mean to spend it more on unnecessary things and I would not be surprised if they would use the extra money for increases or staff parties. What also would have made a difference was if they're staff actually worked as to us phoning at 2 in the afternoon and getting a message that the RAF is closed.
Jadine said:
on Tuesday 14-Feb-17 04:11 PM
If an increase is a possible solution to speeding up RAF payments then I'm all for an in increase in the RAF contribution. However, the realist in me knows the RAF is a government department and that means wasteful expenditure and funds that just cannot be accounted for.
Michelle said:
on Tuesday 14-Feb-17 11:10 AM
Yes they should take more of the money for the RAF that we pay for petrol, so that payments can be made quicker. But it is true as everyone says that the RAF will always have excuses.
Melissa said:
on Tuesday 14-Feb-17 10:25 AM
The RAF always have excuses about payment, that's because they don't know how to work with money, they should hire someone that actually knows what they're doing.
Jolene said:
on Tuesday 14-Feb-17 09:33 AM
An increase will be great, but them again are they going to use the money wisely or just see it as an opportunity to give salary increases!
Helen said:
on Tuesday 14-Feb-17 09:13 AM
I would consider to pay for petrol more, that what I am paying now, if the contribution to RAF will increase! But with RAF management system no one can be sure? I fully agree with some comments bellow: Does not really matter how high cash flow can reach RAF, the matter is how high and fast will be payouts of outstanding claims to people.
Sinead said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 04:06 PM
Even though it would help if the RAF got more money, they will still have 1 thousand excuses as to why payment is not being made. Hopefully not though, let's be positive and hope for the best :)
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 01:44 PM
It is definitely needed and any person can see that. How is the RAF not requesting an increase or putting some sort of pressure on the Minister of Finance? With all these petrol increases one can only hope that the RAF get more money from that.
Angelique P said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 12:20 PM
R1,54 towards the RAF is a very small amount. I hope that this amount will increase. This will make payments quicker to the clients.
I think 80% of the people don’t even know what they are paying for when filling up their cars.
Mathilda said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 12:07 PM
An increase is always welcomed, but even then they will have the excuse they don't have funds.
I personally think they need new management to work with their money
Jessica Apfel said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 11:44 AM
The sheer magnitude of cases should warrant an increas but perhaps it is a ploy to deter people from claiming at all? If they stories of people having to wait several years for their money to be paid out then perhaps they would think twice about lodging a claim? Perhaps something to think about...
Dune said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 10:26 AM
I had a client ask me the other day "where does the Road Accident Fund get their money from because it seems like they never have enough money". I explained to the client that every time we fill up a certain amount goes to the RAF. It is shocking to think that we pay so much for fuel these days and only a small portion goes to the RAF. People do not comprehend the amount of matters being settled a month in comparison to what the RAF gets as contribution each month.
Natasha said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 09:29 AM
I think it would be great if they injected the RAF with more cash. All of the payments would be paid quicker. And so many people fill their cars everyday surely they can give more money to the RAF seeing that they increase the petrol prices
Alexis said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 09:05 AM
Would be great if they increased the amount given to the RAF - it will make things a little more easier esp to get payments out for the clients that are waiting and have been waiting for a bit of time. Everyday there is a new challenge with the RAF, and this would surely help
Juliet said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 09:04 AM
The RAF and so many government subsidies need a huge cash injection. A lady emailed me the other day saying her government pension is R944 per month!!! You cannot live on that. In England you can LIVE on the grants. Here you cannot survive on anything from the government and the RAF too is not surviving well.
Lucretia said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 08:57 AM
I actually don't know what to say about the RAF anymore. They are always moaning about lack of funds etc but, one can never reach them telephonically so as the man in the street, i would be very wary about approaching them directly to do a claim. Over the December period it is even worse, they are always at staff parties - are they cash strapped, or are there too many people on their employment books???
Bianca said:
on Monday 13-Feb-17 08:52 AM
An increase in the amount contributed towards the Road Accident Fund will be welcomed I'm sure by many in the industry as payments will surely come in quicker and more frequently if the RAF is receiving a higher contribution by every motorist that fills up their cars. Most people funny enough are not even aware that they contribute when filling their cars.
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
