Pretoria - The sheriff of the court yet again swooped on the Menlyn office of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to confiscate furniture due to non-payment of supplier claims.
At the same time, the RAF is heading to court next week to obtain yet another bailout in paying out claims to accident victims.
A full bench of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in April 2021 gave the RAF a reprieve of 180 days in which to pay claims.
It was ordered that the RAF was to pay all claims based on court orders already granted or settlements reached, which were older than 180 days.
The court at the time ordered the RAF to make payment of the oldest claims first. This was based on the date of the court order or settlement agreement and provided that the fund was notified by the lawyers about these claims.
The RAF was given a reprieve of a few months at the time to make these payments, which meant that the sheriff could not attach its assets pertaining to those cases.
Claims which were not older than 180 days were suspended from May 21 to September 21.
In August last year, RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo obtained yet another reprieve of six months in which to make these payments. As the six months have run out, Letsoalo has now filed an urgent application for an interim order to give the RAF a further reprieve of 12 months.
Letsoalo will next week ask the court to issue the further 12 months reprieve with immediate effect.
As part of his application he is asking that, if he is successful in this first part of his application, the court order should be made public so that parties who are affected by it and who wish to oppose it can state their case at a later stage before court.
Letsoalo pointed out that about 187 000 claims were involved in this application and it was impossible to alert everyone to the court application, other than through public means.
While promising to make good on payments in cases which are 180 days and older, Letsoalo is now asking for a further 12-month suspension of payment on claims not older than 180 days.
Letsoalo said in the latest application that it was to allow the RAF to make structured payments on an equitable basis.
He said if this order was not granted, the RAF would be forced to make payment first to those who obtain warrants of execution against the entity to attach its assets in a bid to enforce payments.
“The RAF must balance the rights of about 189 000 claimants. This can only be done through a structured and balanced approach. If not, it will lead to a collapse of the system and nationwide chaos,” Letsoalo said.
He said the relief was therefore to stop those from trying to jump the gun to the detriment of others, to try and enforce payments by attaching the RAF assets.
Letsoalo said the court in 2021, through its order and last year by extending the order, ensured a structured payment by the RAF of claims starting with the oldest outstanding claims and working its way to the newest claims.
Letsoalo, since the first application for a reprieve in 2021, maintained that he was trying to find a solution to its financial woes.
The problem facing the RAF was that various law firms which have obtained settlements or judgment against the entity were issuing writs of execution against its assets in a bid to force payment.
Numerous law firms and sheriffs across the country were cited as respondents in the application, while the General Council of the Bar and the Pretoria Attorneys Association joined the proceedings as a friend of the court.
Letsoalo said that the main aim of the further extension within which to pay claims was to try to find a solution to everyone’s benefit.
The application for another reprieve will not pertain to RAF service providers, such as medical practitioners and hospitals.
It is understood that a hospital group this week attached the RAF furniture in Menlyn due to non-payments of its accounts.
The Pretoria News was told that employees at this office were hampered in doing their work, as they did not have desks to work from.
Pretoria News