Claimants who submitted their Road Accident Fund (“The Fund”) claims before April 2022 are encouraged to deliver all outstanding documents in order for the Fund to finalise their claims. Claimants and their repre- sentatives (legal practitioners) can enquire at any of the Fund’s offices or via email about which documents to submit.
Currently, the organisation’s open claims backlog sits at 321 000. As part of its transformation journey, the Fund is committed to efficiently settling claims within 120 days. However, various challenges, including failure to submit all required documents, have impeded its efforts to process and finalise some of the claims, result- ing in a backlog. Other challenges are the comprehensive medical assessments for serious injuries, and unnecessary litigation processes by legal practitioners, which involves a court process that the Fund must adhere to by law.
Supporting documents play a crucial role in finalising a claim efficiently and speedily. They inform the Fund about what is being claimed, sets out the basis of the claim, allows the Fund to investigate, and facilitates an assessment on the merits of the motor vehicle accident.
Collins Letsoalo, RAF Chief Executive Officer, says: “The RAF introduced a new RAF 1 Form in July 2022 in order to improve service delivery and better manage claim risk. The Form was introduced to make it easier for legal practitioners to lodge claims on behalf of claimants, and more importantly, to assist with settling claims faster. The Fund’s open claim backlog would not be on this scale if road accident victims and attorneys representing them submitted all the required information and documents upfront.”
Claimants can submit their outstanding documents via email on contactcentre@raf.co.za or drop the docu- ments off at any of the Fund’s regional offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, East London, and Cape Town. The documents can also be dropped off at the Fund’s customer service centres in Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Mahikeng, and Durban. More details about these offices is available on the Fund’s website.
To determine which documents are outstanding, claimants should visit www.raf.co.za, click on the ‘Drive Your Claim Forward’ banner on the home page and get the information about which documents they need for their specific claim. They may also contact the RAF’s Contact Centre on 087 820 1 111, via SMS on 44930, or by email on contactcentre@raf.co.za . Claimants who request a call back will be contacted by one of the Contact Centre agents.
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