DA calls on Road Accident Fund to open offices to assist crash victims
7 May 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, to issue a directive for Road Accident Fund (RAF) employees to return to work, in accordance to Covid-19 protocols, to allow for the uninterrupted processing of claims and the continued payment of beneficiaries. Road accident victims applying or waiting for payment have found it impossible to get in touch with the fund. This is because the RAF closed its doors at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown because surprisingly, it is currently not regarded as essential services.
Instead of opening offices with a limited staff compliment to process queries, the RAF has completely shut down all its communications channels. The Fund’s website now displays a message which reads: “Kindly take note that all offices of the Road Accident Fund will be closed from 26 March 2020 until further notice”. In addition to this, the RAF’s call centre line has a similar automated message and emails for assistance have gone unanswered.
This has had a particularly adverse impact on RAF beneficiaries, some of whom have raised concerns around the fact that they have experienced challenges with accessing their payments, which in turn means that:
They are unable to pay for critical medicines, treatment, make payments and lodge other queries.