RAF: mediation not working

LAWYERS ASSOCIATION: CLAIMS IT DOES NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO HANDLE IT IN VOLUME

- Roy Cokayne

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) lacks the capacity to mediate cases at scale. Only three out of 1,000 mediation notices served on the fund in the past four months have been mediated, and none of them have been settled.

Personal Injury Plaintiff Lawyers Association (Pipla) chair Advocate Justin Erasmus made this claim this week following Pipla lodging an urgent supplementary affidavit in the High Court in Johannesburg on behalf of its members last week.

Pipla represents about 400 personal injury lawyers in South Africa.

Erasmus said two large legal firms have since April this year served more than 1,000 Rule 41A notices on the RAF.

"Only 35 have been responded to, and just three matters have gone to mediation. To date, nothing has been settled."

"The RAF simply does not have the capacity to mediate in volume," he said.

RAF spokesperson McIntosh Polela said on Wednesday the RAF is on record welcoming the mediation directive announced by Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

"Pipla comes up with nonsensical allegations against the RAF every time they want to appear in the media," said Polela.

Erasmus said historically Gauteng's trial rolls carry about 300 matters a week but mediation, by its very nature, is a protracted process taking at least a full day.