Cape Town - More than 20 000 direct claims were lodged with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) this year, but concerns have been raised that victims have been short-changed through hasty direct settlements.
The Law Society of South Africa’s (LSSA) co-chairmen Mvuzo Notyesi and Jan van Rensburg warned South Africans that victims who are seriously injured and make hasty settlements with the RAF “for what might appear to them to be a significant sum without independent legal advice or before their claims are properly quantified, will have their whole lives to regret it”.
But the RAF said this was untrue and its claims procedure paid out fairly.
The fund said since the direct claims initiative “less than a decade ago, direct claims continue to show a marked increase in their prevalence, growing from 15 percent of new claims in 2011/12 to 35 percent in 2015/16”.
“This increase proves the confidence claimants have in the RAF and its services,” chief executive Dr Eugene Watson said.
The LSSA said the RAF continued to “lobby aggressively” for claimants to claim directly from them.
The fund has defended this, saying direct claims are settled more swiftly, in around four months, than represented claims.
But the LSSA said the claims should be assessed individually, as unrepresented claims, which are processed quickly, could lead to long-term injury as a result of road accidents being overlooked.
“While that might hold good for minor injuries, it certainly cannot be good for seriously injured victims,” Notyesi and Van Rensburg said.
But the RAF said there was little difference in the settlements between direct and represented claims. “An updated Direct Claim Management Policy and Process (the Framework) regulates the internal management of direct claims and requires that RAF employees ensure that direct claims are neither under-settled, nor over-settled,” Watson said.