How long after a car accident can the family of a deceased claim from the RAF?

The long answer

LegalWise says that if the victim was the breadwinner who supported her family, it is possible for her dependents, such as children under 21, to lodge a claim for loss of support of dependents, funeral costs, besides the emergency and medical costs.

A hit-and-run accident has to be reported within two years to the RAF, which must have been done through the law firm. The claim itself must be finalised within five years. If the RAF takes longer than five years to finalise it, and thus the claim is no longer valid, you can sue the RAF. 

When the claim has been investigated and settled, the RAF will pay by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) into your bank account. The RAF says it will also send a letter to tell you which claims have been admitted and how the money paid was worked out; which claims required further explanation, and which claims have been rejected.

It can take four years to settle a claim and after that, another 6 to 12 months for the RAF to pay the money. If the claim is finalised but the RAF delays payment, you are entitled to interest on any delayed payments. Legal action to enforce your rights could include filing for a writ of execution or engaging the sheriff to enforce payment.

Now that the law firm has withdrawn and you have to take it up directly with the RAF, you should get all the documents that they were using from them, which you may have to resubmit to the RAF. These must include:

• A claim reference number that is given by the RAF when the accident is reported. This is also known as a “Link Number”. The RAF says this number is crucial as it is unique to the case and is used to track the progress of the claim.

• The RAF also needs the following information (on the 2022 RAF form):
  ∙ Date of Accident
  ∙ Time of Accident
  ∙ Place of Accident – Street, Town, Province, Postal Code
  ∙ Name and address of police station where the accident was reported
  ∙ Contact details of SAPS station
  ∙ Attach SAPS Accident Report and Name of Investigating Officer
  ∙ Attach a docker Accident Report Number (AR number)
  ∙ Case Number (CR number

• A sworn statement and statements from any witnesses to the accident.

• A written letter that permits the hospital to hand over the medical records to the RAF.

• All medical records related to the accident and subsequent treatment.

• The RAF says that “…all accounts (tax invoices), must be fully specified. This means that the account must indicate exactly what service/treatment has been received. It must also reflect the date of the service or treatment, as well as the name and physical address of the service provider. It is not enough to only submit a receipt as proof that you have incurred an expense.”

• “Check the contents of each account, which is intended for submission as a claim. Make sure that the goods/service reflected in the account has been received. If satisfied, sign each account, that has been submitted to the Fund for reimbursement. Write the Road Accident Fund claim reference number and/or Link number as quoted in the undertaking document, clearly on each claim.”

• “If it is the first time that you are claiming, the bank indemnity form must be completed by yourself, and taken to the bank to verify the bank account detail. The original form must be returned to the Fund’s offices as indicated on the form.” 

• “Once you have completed all the necessary forms and accompanying documents, you must submit the documents in hard-copy, and faxed documents require the originals to be furnished. Emailed documents won’t be accepted.”

You will also need to submit the following documents (where applicable):

• Certified copies of your sister’s ID and of the person making the claim

• Proof of the claimant’s relationship to the deceased (e.g. birth certificate)

• A death certificate for your sister

• Post-mortem reports

• A marriage certificate (if applicable)

• Birth certificate of her son 

• Income details (like financial statements) if claiming for support

• Salary slips

• Income tax returns for the deceased.

The RAF will cover the following funeral costs:

• Transportation of the body

• Provision of the coffin or burial shroud

• Preparation of the body (including embalming)

• Storage of the body

• Arranging for issuing of a death certificate

• Burial or cremation of the body

• Hiring of equipment to lower the coffin into the grave

• Grave fees.

DCS Law says that if the family covered these costs upfront, they can claim from the RAF for reimbursement. The time limit on these claims is three years.

You can contact the RAF by:

• Calling the RAF call centre at (087 820 1111) 7:45am to 4pm, Monday to Friday

• Emailing the RAF at [email protected]

• You can check the status of your claim on the RAF website (www.raf.co.za) and also download forms if you need them.)

• You can go to a walk-in RAF centre.

But apart from all the practical details listed above, it’s also necessary to understand some of the difficulties you might encounter in dealing with the RAF. The RAF is a government body which is funded by the fuel levy that is paid by everyone who buys petrol or diesel. The RAF has been in severe financial and operational difficulties for years. In the last decade, the RAF has chosen to routinely take claims to court instead of settling the claim, which has led to massive delays in processing and settling claims. It could take five years to have a claim settled – in 2020, the RAF owed R16.2-billion to claimants for settled claims. 

In an article on 29 March 2023, MacRobert Attorneys explained that forcing the plaintiff (claimant) to go to court meant that the RAF had a minimum of two years before any payment had to be made. Going to court rather than settling bought the RAF time to try to manage their cashflow issues, so they used litigation as a tactic to delay payment. 

After you file your claim, the RAF has sixty days to object to the validity of the claim and should assess your claim within the next 120 days. Your attorney may only issue a summons against the RAF after this 120-day period has expired. The injured person is the Plaintiff and the RAF is the Defendant.

The MacRobert article explains the steps in the litigation process:

• The RAF appoints a panel attorney who enters an appearance to defend;

• The panel attorney files the RAF’s plea;

• Discovery takes place;

• A pre-trial meeting is held;

• The plaintiff’s attorney applies for a trial date;

• Medical experts are appointed (preferably by both parties);

• The expert reports are filed;

• The parties attend a judicial case management meeting in court before a judge, who then certifies whether the matter is trial ready or not;

• Another pre-trial meeting is held between the parties;

The trial date arrives and the RAF, in the majority of cases, settles the matter on the day of the trial.

News24 reported in September 2024 that the RAF’s heavy reliance on litigation has been widely criticised, with legal costs ballooning from R240-million in 1998/99 to more than R10-billion by 2018/19, and projected to reach R30-billion by 2024/25, if litigation was not reined in.

But fortunately, the new board appointed in 2019 implemented its 2020–2025 Strategic Plan, which includes settling claims within 120 days and cutting legal costs. As a result, the number of settlements through agreements, rather than going to court, increased from 58% in the 2015/16 financial year to 82% in 2023/24. This has helped to reduce the burden on the courts and curb legal expenses.

The latest problem with the RAF may or may not affect your claim – it depends on whether your sister was a member of a medical aid or not – but it is worth knowing about in any case, because it contains important questions about how our law works.

Moonstone explains that the CEO of the RAF, Mr Collins Motsoalo, issued an RAF directive on 12 August 2022 saying that members of medical schemes would not be reimbursed for claims related to injuries from road accidents which the medical aid had already paid for. Up until then, claimants had paid back the money to the medical aid once the RAF had paid their claims. 

Discovery Health took this directive to court and the High Court ruled that the RAF directive was unlawful. The RAF tried to appeal this decision but it was upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal and eventually in October 2023, the Constitutional Court reaffirmed that it was unlawful. The RAF then issued another two directives – this time secretly, not disclosing them publicly, the last one on 2 November 2023 – saying they would not pay claims for medical aid members. Discovery Health then brought a contempt of court charge which was heard by three judges of the High Court in June 2024. 

Two out of the three judges ruled that Discovery Health’s rules could not bind the RAF and that there was no basis for an order to interdict the RAF from implementing its directives as the directives did not subvert the original High Court order by Judge Mbongwe. The directives would remain legally binding unless challenged through a proper judicial process.

The third judge did not agree with the majority judgement and held that as the Concourt had given the final answer, it was not allowed for a litigant (the RAF) to obtain “a reversal of the decision of the same question by giving different reasons”, through the second and third directives. 

The judge said that “… It is simply not open to the RAF to repeat essentially the same decision on a different basis, in circumstances where the decision has been finally held to be unlawful, has been interdicted by Mbongwe J and the RAF’s attempts to seek leave to appeal against that finding have come to naught … Allowing the RAF to ‘bypass’ compliance with a judgment in these circumstances by these means would open the floodgates to directives and similar internal documents being used as a means of circumventing compliance with court orders.”

Discovery Health is set to appeal the majority judgment. Moonstone says that, to date, more than R170-million in claims remain unpaid to members of Discovery Health client medical schemes for medical expenses related to road traffic accidents. Also, because the RAF has not processed claims for any medical scheme members, Discovery or not, the total debt owed to all medical schemes is likely to be far higher.

Finally, if you find yourself in need of advice about your deceased sister’s claim on the RAF, you could ask Legal Aid, which is a means-tested organisation that must assist people who can’t afford a lawyer. 

These are their contact details:

• Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm) 

• Please Call Me: 079 835 7179

• Email: [email protected]

You could also contact the Black Sash, which gives free paralegal advice. These are their contact details:

• Email: [email protected]

• Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865

Wishing you the best,
Athalie