Simon Nare
Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) chairperson Songezo Zibi again on Tuesday lambasted the Road Accident Fund’s (RAF) litigation and legal costs, saying they were disproportionately high relative to compensation, and contributed to the fund’s massive court backlogs.
There had to be a way to reduce the “insane” amount of money being spent on lawyers representing accident victims, he said, while addressing MPs and the Legal Practice Council during SCOPA’s probe into the fund.
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Zibi said the amount of money being paid to law firms had stirred so much anger from the public that the fund could not be allowed to carry on in its current form, particularly since it had hundreds of thousands of cases outstanding.
He said evidence presented to SCOPA thus far suggested there were law firms that were each handling 2 000 claims, while internal assessors were each handling 4 000 cases.
“I see a system that is completely broken, from the legislation itself all the way, and it is busy breaking everything. It’s breaking the courts, its breaking everything.
“[W]hat South Africa needs to reckon with is that this entire scheme is delusional for a developing country. It’s delusional, in my view. They have 432 000 outstanding claims, to clear that backlog in a reasonable period, they honestly need 6 000 to 10 000 employees,” he said.
He added that to help clear that amount of cases, the courts would need to hire more acting judges, a feat Zibi said would be impossible.
The committee earlier heard how RAF cases were clogging the justice system with default judgments when claims could simply be settled without going to court.
Some MPs and Legal Practice Council representatives who were appearing before the committee suggested that avoiding going to court could help speed up the settlement of claims, but there was also consensus that some lawyers preferred going to court to increase their legal fees.
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Zibi described the entire system as a “crazy scheme”.
He said that over a five year period, one law firm made over half a billion rand in legal fees, before paying claims. This had given rise to speculation that the fund had been “captured” by big law firms.
According to RAF annual reports, there were over 400,000 outstanding claims in 2023/2024, with new cases registered daily. There were also cases that had been rejected by the fund’s new system, which is the subject of a pending case at the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Zibi said those cases were likely to be reinstated, which would push the backlog to 700 000.
“We can call people names and say they are looting, but the whole thing for me is unviable. If we want to be honest with one another, I can’t make a recommendation that says the RAF can clear 700 000 claims with 600 employees and R40 billion, it’s not going to fit. That’s all I am saying. The numbers don’t add up,” he said.
LPC member Zincedile Tiya told the committee that the council was aware of allegations that some legal firms “were prioritised over others by the RAF, for reasons we do not know”.
He told Zibi that the fund’s former CEO, Collins Letsaolo, “used to utter the words that you have just said, but there is nothing of that nature that has been brought before us or any complaint by anyone that seeks to suggest that there is some capture of that nature”.
But Tiya also said big law firms had muscle to mobilise more clients — either lawfully or unlawfully.
The council team agreed with the MPs that litigation should be avoided and claims resolved within the prescribed period of 120 days.
SCOPA is nearing the end of its oversight enquiry into RAF mismanagement allegations. The RAF board, ministers and deputy ministers are expected to appear before the committee in the coming weeks.
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