Cabinet has approved the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (Rabs) policy, paving the way for the transformation of the current Road Accident Fund (RAF).
Government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said Rabs would form part of the proposed comprehensive social security system the state was seeking to put in place.
The scheme aimed to address disparities in access to treatment and benefits, he told reporters following Cabinet’s Wednesday fortnightly meeting.
“It will entail a fundamental policy shift from a fault-based compensation system to one of state-funded social security benefits delivered on a no-fault basis. Social inequality will be addressed as social standing will not determine the level of benefits,” he said.
Transport deputy director general Maria Koorts said the RAF would be restructured.
“The intention is indeed to have the Road Accident Fund restructured so that it can be a proper road accident benefit system and administrator. However, we are not going to look at immediate implementation. We need to go through the whole legislative process to actually change the dispensation from a fault-based system towards a no-fault system along social security principles outlined.”
The government aimed to implement the new system as soon as the legislative process was completed, and would look at how to apply the new rules retroactively to all outstanding claims, she said. — Sapa