The Road Accident Fund (RAF) should be better resourced for it to be able to pay claims without a lengthy court process, the Johannesburg Attorneys’ Association (JAA) said on Thursday.
”Defending every claim in court is a waste of taxpayer’s money,” said JAA’s Leigh de Souza.
To say that the RAF was a properly functioning entity was not credible, she said.
She said even a decade ago claim summonses were speedily resolved, while now they could take years. Litigation should not be the only recourse for victims of accidents, she said.
”South Africans have no option but to turn to attorneys for assistance.”
She said victims of car accidents would have been able to receive greater financial assistance, if the RAF has ”invested in adequately resourcing itself”.
Legal action around RAF claims also burdened court infrastructure and service provisions.
”The positive effect on our justice system, accelerated prosecution of criminals — relieving the courts of only a small percentage of RAF case loads could achieve this,” said De Souza.
In June this year the Cape High Court interdicted the RAF from paying claims directly to accident victims, instead of making payments via their attorneys.
The court also set aside a RAF administrative decision, made in June 2007, to forthwith implement a new direct payment system.
Senior counsel Jeremy Gauntlett, for the law society, said at the time that the RAF’s direct payment system was irrational and unreasonable and in breach of constitutional rights.
He said it was designed to ensure that road accident victims — many the most vulnerable in society — would not have effective legal representation in their battles to obtain RAF compensation. — Sapa