Pretoria - Solutions, and not mudslinging, is what members of the legal fraternity pleaded for yesterday when they faced the Road Accident Fund (RAF) during a National Press Club media briefing in Pretoria yesterday.
This followed an earlier memorandum they had issued regarding what they call “a state of emergency” at the RAF.
“RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo should come to the party. We are not concerned about egos. We are concerned about members of the public, many of whom are the poorest of the poor who are victims of accidents. Let’s leave egos aside and find solutions,” was the overall message to the RAF.
The legal fraternity pointed out that there was simply “a mess” at the RAF.
Various stakeholders in the legal fraternity last month pleaded for urgent intervention to get the RAF’s wheels to turn again.
In a letter to the government and the RAF, they described the situation at the entity as a “state of emergency”.
Organisations such as the Pretoria and Johannesburg attorneys associations said, in no uncertain terms, that there was a crisis at the RAF, and that the letter served as an outcry from road accident victims who were mostly left at the mercy of what they call a dysfunctional entity.
They also pointed out that the current state of affairs was crippling the judiciary, as judges simply could not cope with the volumes of RAF matters.
Several lawyers made it clear yesterday that they were facing major challenges in RAF matters and they simply wanted solutions.
“We are reaching out to say let’s make this workable, let’s find solutions. That is why we are here today,” they said.
The legal fraternity also pointed out that they had reached out to the RAF without any response.
“We wrote a letter to you to reach out. We remain committed to meet with you and your management and we look forward to your response to our letter. We want to see a commitment on your part to find a solution for these problems. A crisis calls for solutions,” they said.
Letsoalo, in his response, defended the RAF’s position and said some of the problems arose from lawyers not submitting fully-fledged claims.
He said the RAF was simply not able to process claims without the necessary documents.
He also highlighted historic battles between the RAF and the legal fraternity while citing earlier judgments where judges made negative comments regarding the way lawyers had handled those matters.
Letsoalo said while there were challenges, he denied that there was any mismanagement on his or his board’s part, as claimed by the legal fraternity.
He said, in fact, come the end of the year, he expected a favourable report from the auditor-general regarding the RAF’s finances.
Letsoalo also pointed out that the fund had not been running smoothly for many years prior to him taking over. During those years there was no uproar from the legal fraternity, only now, he said.
“They say we are collapsing. It is wrong,” he said.
Letsoalo also said that while his door was open to the lawyers to speak about claims, it was closed if they wanted to speak about money.
While the various members of legal societies yesterday raised their concerns and pleaded for solutions, it appeared that none was forthcoming.
Pretoria News