The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has contacted numerous claimants‚ service providers and the caregivers to inform them that the fund’s bank account has officially been attached by the Sheriff of the Court and is now frozen.

The RAF’s CEO Eugene Watson cited steep attorney’s fees for bleeding the account dry.

“Payments have ground to a halt due to the RAF’s bank account being attached by the Sheriff of the Court‚” said Watson in a statement on the RAF’s website. The account currently receives a monthly income of R3 billion through a fuel levy, however this was now no longer enough to make the 30‚000+ currently being processed by the RAF.

The attachment‚ removal and sale of RAF assets was thus “an unfortunately common reality”‚ Watson said. A balance of R8.2 billion worth of payments to 5‚200 creditors remains queued for payment over and above all that is paid.

This equates to just under R1.6 million per creditor.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and every effort is being made to resolve the matter speedily in order for the RAF to resume payments,” the chief executive said.

The RAF provides insurance cover to all drivers of motor vehicles in South Africa in respect of liability incurred or damage caused as a result of a traffic collision.

The claimant is assigned a percentage of responsibility for the accident, and the Road Accident Fund pays the claimant a percentage of a full settlement based on a percentage that was not deemed to be their responsibility.

[source: Business Tech]