Bill will shut out 'unscrupulous' lawyers – Minister

Announcing publication for comment on a new Bill providing for the replacement of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) with a new agency, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters used the occasion to take a swipe at 'unscrupulous' lawyers and doctors, saying they had used the RAF as a 'cash cow', notes Legalbrief. ‘Our government, cannot allow the abuse and theft of funding from road users through the RAF fuel levy, meant to alleviate the financial burden that results from the carnage on our roads, to be siphoned off to benefit the middleman and a privileged few,’ she said. ‘Our courts are clogged with RAF matters causing much consternation on our justice system.’ In her department's budget speech in Parliament, Peters said the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (Rabs) Bill, which provided for the establishment of the Road Agency Benefit Scheme Administrator (Rabsa), would end these practices. 'The Bill proposes a comprehensive social security safety net scheme that is not fault-based,’ she is quoted as saying in a Fin24 report. ‘It will allow expanded access to much needed benefits to road users. These include the public and private transport passengers; widows, orphans and many other dependents, previously and currently excluded by virtue of fault.’ She said Rabs would introduce defined benefits, timely and appropriate care based on reasonable tariffs. And it would 'alleviate the burden on courts through the establishment of an internal appeal procedure'.

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