Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has revealed that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) was saddled with a total of 321 251 outstanding claims as at last month.
Creecy said over half the number of the claims were four years and older and summons were issued against the Road Accident Fund in at least 196 765 claims.
“The net number of open claims as of 19 July 2024 is 321 251 claims. The number of claims that are four years or older from the date of lodgement is 174 042 claims, which made up 54% of the net open claims portfolio,” she said.
“This situation is not sustainable from either a humanitarian or financial perspective, and requires policy and administrative reform,” Creecy said.
She would not say how much the cost of the claims would be when paid out.
“The cost of these claims can only be determined upon administering them.
Historically, claim amounts do not translate to settled amounts,” Creecy said.
The minister was responding to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Nontando Nolutshungu, who enquired about the status of backlogs in claims after the Road Accident Fund made a commitment to pay all outstanding claims.
Nolutshungu had also wanted to know the total number of claims that have been taken to court and the amounts that were involved.
Creecy said out of the total claims, there were 196 765 claims where summons had been issued to initiate legal proceedings and 128 869 of them were older than four years.
“Furthermore, of the 196 765 open claims, 9 240 have a trial date in the future.”
Creecy also said there were several measures put in place to settle.
These included marketing and outreach campaigns to source required information to settle claims due to large volumes of claims with insufficient information.
There was also identification of dormant claims and those were dealt with accordingly.
Creecy added that there was ongoing data analysis to drive monitoring and to assist in identification of claims for targeted settlement.
Meanwhile, Creecy has written to the RAF board to seek clarity on their motivation for leave to appeal the court ruling that declared invalid its regulation that barred illegal foreign nationals from lodging claims.
She said the RAF to date paid R4.7 million in costs in the matter.
Cape Times