By: Bight Ntuli
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairperson Songezo Zibi has called for foreigners to be excluded from Road Accident Fund payouts.
This follows an incident were a bus overturned and plunged down an embankment near Ingwe Ranch on the N1 north of Louis Trichardt, killing 43 people. The bus, carrying passengers from Zimbabwe and Malawi, had been travelling from the Eastern Cape toward their home countries.
A statement has been released by RAF saying that victims of the accident have the right to apply for compensation under the Road Accident Fund Act.
“With regard to claims by foreign nationals, the RAF as an organ of state is obliged to comply with the provisions of section 42 of the Immigrations Acts which prohibits the aiding and abetting of illegal foreigners.
Where the RAF’s liability is established, the payment of compensation must not contravene any other law
such as the Immigrations Act,” says RAF.
Zibi says that while current law allows anyone injured in a South African road accident to claim the Act should be amended.
The road accident fund says that it has spent R239,4 million on road accident claims to foreign nationals between April and September this year alone.
He says that the upcoming Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill, will include these reforms following public consultation.
