Road Accident Fund (RAF) Under Fire: SCOPA Probes R1bn Media Spend Amid Claims Backlog

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is facing a high-stakes interrogation this week as Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) resumes its inquiry into allegations of gross financial mismanagement and operational failure.

On Tuesday, February 3, the RAF’s interim board and management were summoned to explain a series of controversial expenditures—including a R1 billion media spend—at a time when the entity is drowning under a backlog of nearly 450,000 outstanding claims.

R1 Billion Media Spend Under the Microscope

Central to the inquiry is the awarding of two integrated marketing and media-buying contracts valued at R500 million each.

• The Vendors: The contracts were awarded to MediaMix360 and Dzinge Productions.

• The Concern: SCOPA Chairperson Songezo Zibi has questioned the logic of the equal split between creative services and media placement, stating it “makes no sense in the real world.”

• Bloated Costs: Despite the contracts being intended to run until 2027/28, reports indicate that over R650 million of the R1 billion budget had already been exhausted by March 2025.

Perhaps most damaging is the revelation that Dzinge Productions allegedly hosted a staff awards ceremony for the RAF costing nearly R4 million.

A “Barely Recognized” Claims Crisis

While the RAF’s marketing budget swells, its core mandate of compensating road accident victims is in a state of paralysis.

• The Backlog: As of the 2024/25 financial year, the fund reported 445,782 outstanding claims.

• Human Cost: During oversight visits to RAF offices, SCOPA members heard firsthand accounts from unrepresented claimants who are forced to cover their own medical report costs—a requirement of the new RAF 1 claim form that is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

• Non-Compliance: Roughly 72% of the 105,000 claims submitted under the new system were deemed non-compliant, effectively pushing victims back into a costly, attorney-driven legal system the RAF claims it wants to avoid.

“The RAF is completely broken. If urgent changes are not implemented, this horror show will continue to clog our justice system and fail the most vulnerable.” — Alan Beesley, ActionSA MP and SCOPA member.

Litigation Against the Auditor-General

The inquiry is also probing the RAF’s decision to spend over R11.2 million in legal fees litigating against the Auditor-General (AG) of South Africa.

The dispute centers on a 2020/21 accounting policy change. The AG argues this change allowed the RAF to understate its liabilities by more than R300 billion, creating a false impression of solvency. Furthermore, the fund has reportedly spent R119 million on external legal costs for various disciplinary cases, including the suspension of over 50 employees who have remained on paid leave for over three years.

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