Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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The Road Accident Fund appeared before Parliament recently to submit their 2018/2019 annual report to the Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on transport. Some of the media coverage of it - I presume comes from comments that the Acting CEO - Lindelwa Xingwana-Jabavu made and really are astounding. For example, it appears that Parliament were told that R9,2 billion went towards general damages and that was primarily to people not seriously injured! You don’t qualify for general damages in terms of the 2008 Act unless you are seriously injured and anybody who has ever been involved in this field of work will know how badly you have to be injured just to qualify for general damages now.
To try and act as if R9,2 billion went to people who did not deserve it, because they were not seriously injured, is unacceptable. They say they paid out R40 billion in claims during that financial year, R6 billion more than the previous year of which R10,3 billion went towards legal and other experts’ costs. Obviously, to a large extent they are talking about their own legal costs which of course have soared because the Road Accident Fund seems incapable of settling even small basic cases and force attorneys to take those matters the whole way to court. Although the annual report was presented to Parliament on 9 October, the Annual Report could not be found on the Road Accident Fund’s website a day later, which makes it very difficult for those who are interested in reading it to see what the latest statistics indicate and hopefully that will be put on their website sooner rather than later.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Thursday 31-Oct-19
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Comments
Nicolene said:
on Wednesday 08-Jan-20 09:10 AM
Very interesting. Would love to read the Annual Report.
Bianca Taljaard said:
on Thursday 12-Dec-19 07:20 AM
This is really interesting to read, i would like to see an annual report, wonder what the outcome will be
Zindy said:
on Thursday 28-Nov-19 10:46 AM
How is it possible that 9.2 Billion went to people whom did not deserve it. There is certainly a criteria that allows them to claim so perhaps not all in vein?
Natasha said:
on Monday 18-Nov-19 03:43 PM
Its Horrible seeing whats happening, I hope they post the report some people really need the money
Michelle D said:
on Monday 11-Nov-19 02:47 PM
Everyone involved in RAF work knows that General Damages is the most risky and least lucrative portion of most claims. Our courts have adopted an extremely conservative approach when it comes to this which is exacerbated by the decisions of the HPCSA.
Alexis said:
on Friday 08-Nov-19 03:56 PM
....R9,2 billion went towards general damages and that was primarily to people not seriously injured! This baffles me a bit seeing as a lot of matters are referred to the HPCSA who ultimately make the decision.
Tamaryn said:
on Friday 08-Nov-19 12:00 PM
I'm not sure how the RAF came to the conclusion that R9.2 billion went towards general damages and most of those injuries were not serious. How did they go about establishing retrospectively which injuries were not serious and which portion of the R9.2 billion was awarded in respect of those not so serious injuries? Also how did it happened that general damages were paid for non-serious injuries? Be it as it may, if you look at the ratio of what has been paid out vs what the say their legal costs were, it's clear to see that something is wrong with how they are running their system.
Brenda Du Toit said:
on Thursday 07-Nov-19 07:21 AM
Would be interesting to see the outcome. I will most definitely need to read more into
patrick said:
on Wednesday 06-Nov-19 04:51 PM
I hope this is not another cader deployment. The idea is to cast aspersions that attorneys rob the system.
Mathilda Du Preez said:
on Wednesday 06-Nov-19 02:22 PM
It will be interesting to see the Annual Report of the RAF ,I definitely think that there is wasteful expenditure going on in the RAF.
sandra said:
on Wednesday 06-Nov-19 12:44 PM
They must release the annual report so that we could see statistics otherwise the figures could only be made up
Victoria said:
on Wednesday 06-Nov-19 08:43 AM
Would be interesting to see the report, surely more should of been paid out to seriously injured then just general damages.
Cornelie said:
on Tuesday 05-Nov-19 12:54 PM
It is insane how the RAF cannot settle small matters, past medical expenses claims do their own investigations to get those matters settled. Then the people who are injured matters get under settle or the fund does not have money wonder why.
Thembi said:
on Tuesday 05-Nov-19 11:41 AM
This is really interesting to read about I would like to know the outcome so I can read more about RAF
Fikile said:
on Tuesday 05-Nov-19 10:20 AM
I can't wait for the annual report to be released so that we can go through it
Jadine Richards said:
on Monday 04-Nov-19 09:01 AM
There is definitely wasteful expenditure going on here. It should be brought to the attention of parliament that if the RAF employees simply did their job then costs would not be as high as they are.
Claudia B said:
on Monday 04-Nov-19 08:05 AM
This is really shocking and interesting to read about the RAF, I will most definitely need to read more into this, hoping for a follow up blog on this one to know what the out come will be.
Michelle Smillie said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 04:55 PM
It is actually so silly, the RAF can help themselves by just doing their job effectively, and not running up unnecessary costs by postponing matters. If they look at the documents, and act on the advices of their attorneys, matters will settle a lot easier with a lot less costs. This is where the funds are wasted, not on payments for things like general damages. If it is so easy to pay it unnecessarily, why are there so many procedures in place that need to be followed? If they believe it is being paid for claims that does not deserve it, why do they not reject general damages in those cases then? As usual, claims for general damages are just being used as an escape goat.
Bronwyn said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 04:44 PM
This is a really interesting read,i need to do more research on this.
Sinead said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 03:31 PM
Interesting.........
How is it possible that the Act was implemented in 2008 and this is the outcome in 2018/9?
How much money went to the seriously injured people? Those more deserving...
Do those who were not seriously injured even use their funds for treatment?
sarah said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 11:38 AM
I really cam't believe the Acting CEO - Lindelwa Xingwana-Jabavu made that state about general damages. we go through a lot of procedures to prove general damages, people can't just claim for a minor injury anymore. It will be interesting to see this report
lourien said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 10:40 AM
The RAF always finds ways to have lower payouts to people that have been injured in road accidents. I cannot believe that they stated that the money paid out in regards of general damages went to people who did not deserve it.
Bianca N said:
on Friday 01-Nov-19 08:50 AM
It's shocking to read this. There are people who really are seriously injured and their whole lives are changed because of it. They need the money so much more! I hope that they post that report so that we can see the stats.
Ziyanda said:
on Thursday 31-Oct-19 01:20 PM
This is very interesting to read and will be getting the annual report to read.
Clare said:
on Thursday 31-Oct-19 12:47 PM
Road Accident Fund need to come to the Party, this very interesting article and I would like to know the Out come to this Hope we have a Follow Up Blog regarding this..
Lucretia said:
on Thursday 31-Oct-19 09:31 AM
Surely the RAF cannot think they will get away with putting a case forward to parliament with incorrect figures. I do hope that parliament will do the honourable think and open this matter to those in the know to discuss same before any serious decisions are made.
Roxanne Rautenbach said:
on Thursday 31-Oct-19 08:33 AM
Its very interesting to read about the statistics of all the accidents
Helen said:
on Thursday 31-Oct-19 08:03 AM
Very interesting article to read and report is fascinating too. I have managed to download this report though. Amazing how RAF is managed, R9,2 billion went towards general damages, as per act moneys went to people who did not deserve to receive! But in the meantime the RAF recorded a net deficit for the 2018/19 financial year of R55.78 billion!
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!
