General: Lawyers tackle RAF over court orders challenges

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has incurred the wrath of lawyers, who are accusing it of trying to rescind a host of legitimate court orders. According to the lawyers, those who are close to RAF chief executive Collins Letsoalo are being paid first. A Cape Times report notes the RAF turned to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) nearly two weeks ago, asking that the AG’s report into its affairs not be presented to Parliament during the current sitting. It also asked that the contentious report entirely remain under wraps pending an urgent review of the findings.

Several lawyers are also complaining that while they had received legitimate court orders in their favour, the RAF had now indicated months down the line that it planned to overturn them. But one lawyer said the RAF never bothered at the time to defend some of the matters. In one case the court ordered the RAF to pay a claimant after the judge went to great lengths to ensure that the fund knew the matter was on the roll. The RAF nevertheless never showed up in court. Now, nearly a year down the line, the RAF gave notice that it was planning to ask the court to overturn the order. In many of these cases, writs had been issued against the RAF to recover the money as these orders were still in place. RAF spokesperson William Maphutha said there were several default judgments, which were obtained by attorneys during lockdown under dubious circumstances.