WeeklySA_Adminbacklog: The agency’s “Drive Your Claim Forward” campaign on Thursday encourages claimants to submit outstanding documents required to finalise their applications…
By Lehlohonolo Lehana
Amid a current backlog of about 321 000 unresolved claims, the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has launched a campaign to reduce applications submitted before April 2021 that have yet to be finalised.
The campaign calls claimants to submit all outstanding documents to ensure that the RAF has all the necessary information required to investigate and pay claims timeously.
During a media briefing on May 2, CEO Collins Letsoalo launched the RAF’s Drive Your Claim Forward campaign on Thursday to encourage claimants to submit outstanding documents required to finalise their applications.
Letsoalo said more than 200,000 of the outstanding claims are older than three years.
“Our target is to ensure that we service the claimant. Since we opened the call centre (in 2022), we have received more than 380,000 contacts, either through emails or calls. We have resolved at least 95% of them.
“In both years, 2023/2024 and 2022/2023, we have achieved only 16% out of 20% that we had targeted.”
In July 2022, the RAF introduced a new form to improve service delivery.
“The form was introduced to make it easier for legal practitioners to lodge claims on behalf of claimants and, more importantly, to assist with settling claims faster. The fund’s open claim backlog would not be on this scale if road accident victims and attorneys representing them submitted all the required information and documents upfront,” the CEO said.
Letsoalo said the fund is committed to efficiently settling claims in 120 days. “Supporting documents play a crucial role in finalising a claim efficiently and speedily. They inform the fund about what is being claimed, set out the basis of the claim, allow the fund to investigate, and facilitate an assessment on the merits of the motor vehicle accident,” Letsoalo said.
Claimants and their representatives who submitted claims before April 2021 are encouraged to deliver all outstanding documents in order for the fund to finalise their claims. Enquiries about which documents to submit can be made at any of the RAF’s offices or through email.
Claimants can submit their outstanding documents through email on contactcentre@raf.co.za or drop the documents off at any of the Fund’s regional offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, East London and Cape Town.
The documents can also be dropped off at the fund’s customer service centres in Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Kimberley, Mahikeng and Durban. More details about these offices are available on the fund’s website.
To determine which documents are outstanding, claimants can visit www.raf.co.za, click on the ‘Drive Your Claim Forward’ banner on the home page and get the information about which documents they need for their specific claim.
Claimants can also contact the RAF’s Contact Centre on 087 820 1111, using SMS on 44930, or by email on contactcentre@raf.co.za. Claimants who request a call back will be contacted by one of the contact centre agents. – www.fullview.co.za
