The Road Accident Fund (RAF) financial woes are continuing.

A total of R18 million worth of the fund’s assets, which the sheriff of the court had seized, will be auctioned off next month.

The RAF has faced several incidents in which the sheriff seized its assets to acquire the funds that it owed road accident victims.

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18 matters affecting two Road Accident Fund offices

In an interview with The Citizen over the weekend, RAF spokesperson McIntosh Polela confirmed the sheriff of the High Court in East London has informed their office an auction of the fund’s assets is set down for Thursday, 5 December.

“The sheriff’s list consists of 18 matters affecting two regional offices amounting to over R18 million,” Polela said.

“Sixteen are for the East London regional office, with two for the Johannesburg office.”

• The orders include cases where the RAF is ordered to pay past medical expenses, where these expenses were paid by the medical schemes as prescribed minimum benefits or emergency medical conditions; and
• Foreigner claims where the claimants cannot prove they were legally in the country when the accident occurred and legal cost payments where capital has not been paid.

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Leasing equipment to prevent them being attached

In some cases, the fund has instructed its attorneys to rescind the judgments, Polela said.

“All the offices receive regular visits from the sheriff of the court, followed by auctions where RAF assets are sold because of non-payment of matters.

“The RAF is forced to lease various items, instead of buying them to prevent their attachment by the sheriff of the court.

“This hurts its operations which is something the organisation has spoken openly about before.”

Polela did not say which Johannesburg regional offices will be affected, he said he was not aware of the Centurion auction and asked to be given more time to investigate.

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Billions paid and a backlog

According to the entity’s 2023/24 annual performance report, it has paid out R45.1 billion in claims.

The majority of the payments went to victims who could not return to work as a result of car accidents.

RAF board members and CEO Collins Letsoalo recently accused the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) of contributing to its financial woes by making corrupt road accident claims, but LSSA CEP Justin Erasmus denied the allegations.

In May, Letsoalo said the fund had a backlog of 321,000 claims and urged the affected people to submit the outstanding documents to speed up the process.

Road Accident Fund seizures could continue’

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi Majola has criticised RAF management and accused them of failing to manage the parastatal properly.

“If the maladministration continues, the seizure of the entity’s assets will continue. We have been calling on the government to address this issue,” said Majola.

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The union previously urged the fund to stop subjecting workers to difficult working conditions by forcing them to work without proper furniture.

“Numsa is outraged that workers are forced to work without proper chairs. RAF leased chairs as a way to prevent the sheriff from attaching furniture, as was the case in the past,” the statement read.

In January, the Mpumalanga High Court ordered Letsoalo and the board to make the outstanding pay-out to two claimants from their own pockets

Desks, laptops go

An advertisement published in The Citizen on Friday, revealed RAF furniture that was attached from the Centurion offices in Pretoria will be auctioned this Friday at 10am.

Some of the items that will be auctioned on the day include chairs, desks, televisions, laptops, monitors, fridges, library items and other valuables.

According to the advertisement, the items sold this week are part of the Eastern Cape High Court recent judgments.

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