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<\/p>\nRabia Mayet | rabiamayet@rdioislam.co.za<\/p>\n
04 November 2025<\/p>\n
2-minute read<\/p>\n
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Once seen as a safety net for motor-vehicle crash victims, South Africa\u2019s Road Accident Fund is now drowning in debt after serious mismanagement.<\/p>\n
Expert in governance and economic development, Prof Pfano Mashau from the Durban University of Technology says that road users should appreciate that the RAF \u201cis one of the most wonderful initiatives that we have in the country.\u201d Under the RAF, victims of road accidents are compensated for the adverse effects they suffer such as injuries sustained during the collision as well as potential loss of income.<\/p>\n
The RAF is \u201cwell-funded by the fuel levy,\u201d Prof Mashau highlights. Unfortunately, once people within the RAF started to notice the amount of money going into the it, things started going awry, and these very people employed different initiatives to get money out of the beneficiaries. Money for administration costs covering payment to employees, lawyers and specialists, was mismanaged and stolen.<\/p>\n
While the previous CEO did a good job of identifying those benefiting from the Fund as opposed to the intended beneficiaries, at one stage even employing internal actuary services to pinpoint where the money was going, rooting out corruption was almost impossible. \u00a0Prof Mashau says that it became \u201ca web of too many people wanting to benefit from a fund until it gets to a point where there are too many to cover.\u201d In an attempt to use RAF as a \u201csource of profit\u201d and get rich quickly, there are even lawyers who specialise only in RAF matters.<\/p>\n
Mashau further states that the department was \u201creactionary\u201d when it came to things going wrong and eventually ended up with this deficit that will take a long time to correct.<\/p>\n
While reforming the RAF will be a significant challenge because of systemic failures with corruption \u201cfrom the bottom to the top management,\u201d Prof Mashau advocates for \u201ccleaning up\u201d by putting \u201cthe right people at the right positions.\u201d He emphasizes that there is enough money within the RAF that can be distributed and paid to both employees and beneficiaries. It\u2019s time for bold people who will stop the corruption and find new ways of doing things to step forward.<\/p>\n
It’s time to embrace technology and automate the process to sidestep corruption. By removing the human element, Prof Mashau concludes, we might just find surplus money that can be reinvested back into the economy.<\/p>\n