The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is liable to compensate anyone who’s involved in an accident in South Africa – regardless of their legal status, says lawyers acting for a Zimbabwean man taking the RAF and the Transport Minister to court over new rules for foreign claimants.
The new rules – contained in a new directive issued in June and a new claim form gazetted in July now require foreigners to prove they were in the country legally at the time of their crashes, before they can lodge a claim.
Adam Mudawo was left with “significant” facial disfigurement after an accident this January.
But he can’t lodge a claim in terms of the new rules because he came to the country as an asylum seeker in January 2020 but his permit has since lapsed.
So he has now launched a constitutional challenge against the new directive and the new form in the Pretoria High Court.
His lawyer, Jason Ruiters of Roets & van Rensburg incorporated.
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“The new RAF lodgments form – usually referred to as the RAF 1 form and the management directive issued by the RAF both offends the promotion of equality and prevention of unfair discrimination act as well as the constitution.”
In his papers, Mudawo argues that the RAF act doesn’t provide for different rules for South Africans and foreigners.
“The RAF is clear and provides that the RAF will be liable to compensate any person who is a victim of a motor vehicle accident within the republic of South Africa”.
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