The Board of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is similarly extending, by 90 days, the period for public consultation and comment in respect of the draft RABS Rules, first published for comment under Board Notice 50 of 2014, in Government Gazette No. 37612, published on 9 May 2014.
Interested parties are urged to make use of another opportunity to submit comments on this important piece of legislation.
An earlier version of the Bill was published for public comment on 8 February 2013 in Government Gazette No.36138. Following receipt of public comments, the Bill was redrafted. New Regulations, Rules and Forms were also drafted to enable a better understanding of how the proposed scheme would operate in practice.
The Bill provides for a new no-fault benefit scheme and a new Administrator called the Road Accident Benefit Scheme Administrator (RABSA), which will replace the current RAF and compensation system administered by it.
In terms of a fundamental overhaul, the legislation proposes that the RAF be replaced by the RABSA and that the current adversarial system be replaced with a scheme which is based on the principles of social security and social solidarity.
The key change proposed by the draft legislation is a move away from the insurance based system of compensation which has been largely unchanged in South Africa since its inception in 1946, to a system of defined and structured benefits.
The RABS Bill forms part of an initiative to replace the third party compensation system currently administered by the RAF with a new scheme that is reasonable, equitable, affordable and sustainable.
The Bill, Regulations, Rules and Forms are available from the Government Printer
and on the websites of the Department of Transport and the Road Accident Fund at:
www.transport.gov.za and www.raf.co.za
Written comments on the Bill and RABS Regulations can be submitted via e-mail to
rabsbill@dot.gov.za or addressed to:
The Director-General
Department of Transport
Private Bag X193
PRETORIA
0001
E-mail: KgantsiK@dot.gov.za
Tel: 012 309 3917 or 012 309 3476
Fax: 012 309 3502
Written comments on the draft RABS Rules and Forms can be submitted via e-mail
to RABS-Rules@raf.co.za or addressed to:
The Senior Manager: Regulation
Road Accident Fund
Private Bag X178
CENTURION
0046
E-mail: chrisw@raf.co.za
Tel: 012 621 1833
Fax: 012 621 1640
