RAF's financial crisis: Victims left waiting

THE Road Accident Fund (RAF) pulls in more than R48 billion from the fuel levy annually, but thousands of road crash victims are still waiting for their payouts.

- MTHOBISI NOZULELA

The fund’ finances are in serious trouble. It now reportedly owes more than R518bn, while holding assets worth only R33bn. According to parliamentary records, the RAF allocated around R1bn for communications and advertising over about two years, with around R650 million spent through two media companies, MediaMix360 and Dzinge Productions. It also spent R231m on staff bonuses and R1.8m on executive protection.

However, this is not all. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) members were also left scratching their heads after hearing that the fund, which is meant to assist victims of road accidents, reportedly spent R48 300 on a single bucket hat from Dzinge Productions. Spokesperson McIntosh Polela maintained that although the invoice indicated a quantity of one hat, it actually represented multiple units. Other questionable expenses included golf shirts at R8 180 each, podcasts costing R110 313 per episode, and thousands of branded water bottles at R85 each.

According to the AGSA, the RAF identified more than R95m in irregular, wasteful, and fruitless expenditure that could have been available for legitimate RAF purposes, including paying claims to road accident victims. This includes

@ R6.4m in overpayments and duplicate payments

@ R36m in irregular procurement expenditure identified in 2024/25