Foreign Nationals Owed R1,5 Billion by Road Accident Fund for Claims During Past Financial Year

• The Road Accident Fund revealed that it paid out over R45 billion in claims over the past financial year
• RAF received 79,377 claims during that period, but only 63,015 claims were approved
• RAF owes foreign nationals a portion of that money, something that has upset citizens in the past

Briefly News journalist Byron Pillay has spent a decade reporting on the South African political landscape, crime and social issues.

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) owes R1,5 billion to foreign nationals. That figure was released in RAF's annual performance report for the 2023/24 financial year.

While the figure is relatively high, it represents just a tiny percentage of the actual monies paid out during the period.

RAF previously proposed not paying foreigners

The issue of foreign nationals claiming from the fund has previously caused a debate among South Africans. Recent fatal crashes involving Zimbabwean nationals had many questioning whether it was a scam to defraud the RAF.

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Last year, RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo even suggested they were looking to amend the bill to stop payouts to foreign nationals.

He explained at that stage that they could not afford to make payments to foreigners.

RAF approve 63,015 claims

According to the financial report, RAF paid R45,1 bn in claims during the past financial year.

Most of the payouts were made to victims who couldn't work following car accidents.

79,377 claims were registered during the period, but of these, only 63,015 were approved.

What were the RAF funds paid out for?

The report indicated that R12,7 billion was paid for general damages, R2,6 billion for loss of support and R1,7 billion for medical compensation.

R47 million was paid to cover the funeral costs of victims.

South Africans concerned about RAF fraud

Briefly News previously reported that citizens are concerned there could be a scam ongoing to defraud the RAF.

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Many were under the belief that foreign nationals were getting into accidents on purpose to claim from the fund.

This comes after two separate crashes claimed the lives of 15 Zimbabwean nationals on South African roads.

Source: Briefly News