RAF Amendment Act
You would have heard from reports in the press that the amendment of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 was published in the Government Gazette volume 517, nr. 31249 dd. 21 July 2008. The amended act came in force on 01 August 2008.
According to the Department of Transport: “This amendment was necessary to ensure the future sustainability of the Fund. The Fund’s income, primarily derived from a fuel levy, which does not keep pace with the value of claims lodged with the Fund. For this reason the Fund has over the years accumulated a deficit of over 20 billion Rand.”
We are all at present waiting for the outcome of the urgent interdict brought against the RAF by the Law Society of SA. This will be heard in the Cape Town High Court on Friday 08 August 2008. Until then no one can make any assumptions for the way forward. The amendment was promulgated and it is at present the current act in place.
What is clear from the amended act is that there still are opportunities for claims to be lodged against the wrongdoer. The act also retains the right for the injured to lodge a claim against the wrongdoer if the RAF is unable to pay. This is a very wide definition.
Our advice at present is not to cancel any passenger liability cover and not to act on hearsay as there is still a pending interdict and we need to await that outcome before further actions can be decided upon. Please ensure that clients are kept insured, even if they may request cover to be cancelled, or else obtain the cancellation request in writing from the client.
The major changes are the following:
1. “Under the current act the claims of certain categories of passengers are limited to a maximum of R 25 000.00. The amendments have done away with this limitation and these passengers will in future be treated on an equal footing with all other types of claimant.”
2. “Under the current act claims by claimant’s conveyed for reward on a motorcycle are excluded. The amendments deleted this exclusion with the result that the Fund will in future entertain such claims.”
3. “ The current act excludes claims by passengers, in a single motor vehicle accident, where the claimant is in law responsible for the maintenance of the driver, or where the claimant is a member of the same household as the driver. The amendments deleted this exclusion with the result that the Fund will in future entertain such claims.”
4. “The current act does not exclude claims for emotional shock. The amendments however introduced a new exclusion in respect of claims for secondary emotional shock. It is important to note that although the Fund’s liability is excluded in respect of this type of claim that the claimant retains his/her common law claim against the wrongdoer.”
5. “The amendments retain the claimants common law right to claim against the wrongdoer only in instances where the Fund is unable to pay any compensation and in instances of secondary emotional shock.“
6. “The amendments limit the Fund’s liability for compensation in respect of claims for onpecuniary loss (general damages) to instances only where a serious injury has been sustained.”
7. “The amendments now entitle the Fund to pay the compensation to the claimant or directly to the medical service provider.”
8. “The amendments limit the Fund’s liability in respect of medical expenses to one of two medical tariffs. All medical treatment that cannot be defined as emergency medical treatment will be compensated on the lower tariff. This lower tariff is the Uniform Patient Fee Schedule for fees payable to public health establishments by full-paying patients.”
9. “The amendments limit the Fund’s liability in respect of claims for loss of income to R 160 000.00 per year, irrespective of the actual loss.”
Extracts and Information used in this document was obtained from the FAQ posted on the RAF website dd 24 July 2008, which is freely available to the general public.
