What are the Requirements to Claim from the Road Accident Fund?

A valid Road Accident Fund claim rests on three core requirements: the motor-vehicle accident must have occurred on a public road in South Africa, the claimant must lodge the prescribed RAF 1 form within the applicable prescription period (generally three years from the date of the accident, or from the date of knowledge of the injury where the harm was not immediately apparent), and the claim must be supported by a documented diagnosis, an accident report, and the prescribed supporting documents. The substantive heads of damage — general damages, past and future loss of earnings, and past and future medical expenses — apply to all claims; however, general damages are now subject to the serious injury threshold introduced under the Road Accident Fund Amendment Act 19 of 2005 and now regulated by section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Regulations, 2014.

What the Road Accident Fund Is and What It Covers

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is the statutory body established under the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996. It is funded principally through a fuel levy on petrol and diesel, and its purpose is to compensate victims of motor-vehicle accidents that occur on public roads in South Africa. Claimants pursue the RAF, not the negligent driver personally: the negligent driver or owner of the motor vehicle is the gateway through which liability flows, but the claim is ultimately against the Fund as statutory insurer.

The RAF is not a strict no-fault scheme. The claimant must still establish negligence on the part of the driver or owner of the offending motor vehicle. What the regime does, however, is treat the claimant’s own contributory negligence as a reducing factor rather than as a bar to recovery — apportionment applies under standard principles, and a partly-at-fault claimant may still recover a reduced amount.

The Fund publishes its claims procedure through a small set of landing pages — How To Claim, FAQ, and the prescribed Claim Forms — which together provide a useful structural frame for understanding the statutory pathway. A valid claim must satisfy the underlying substantive requirements laid out in the RAF Act and its regulations, irrespective of which lodgement channel is used.

Who Can Claim from the RAF

Eligibility under the RAF Act is broader than many claimants expect. The following categories of person may pursue a claim, subject to the statutory requirements:

• Direct victims — drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists injured by a motor vehicle on a public road.
• Close relatives of a deceased victim in fatal cases, to the extent the Act allows derivative claims for loss of support and funeral expenses.
• Passengers and pedestrians hit by an unidentified or uninsured driver — the RAF stands behind the driver’s insurance, so the claim is lodged against the Fund even where there is no identifiable defendant.

The negligent driver or owner of the motor vehicle remains the conduit through which liability is established, but the claim itself is against the RAF. Contributory negligence on the part of the claimant reduces, rather than bars, the recovery under standard apportionment principles. Common scenarios the kept guides treat as distinct facets — passenger claims, pedestrian claims, hit-and-run incidents, and claims against unidentified or uninsured vehicles — are all handled procedurally through the same RAF claims pathway.

The Three Heads of Damage You Can Claim

Every RAF claim is built around three distinct heads of damage. Each has its own evidentiary requirements and its own quantification rules, and a successful claim typically runs all three in parallel rather than choosing between them.

Head of damage	What it covers	What must be proved	Quantification
General damages	Pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, disfigurement, loss of expectation of life	A “serious injury” (section 17 of the RAF Regulations, 2014) plus supporting medical evidence	Severity of injury assessed against the Serious Injury Assessment Regulations; past RAF tariff guidelines inform quantum
Past and future loss of earnings	Actual loss of income and loss of future earning capacity	Pre-accident earnings records (payslips, IRP5, tax returns) and an actuarial projection for future loss	Actuarial calculation, capped by the claimant’s actual loss
Past and future medical expenses	Hospitalisation, surgery, rehabilitation, medication, assistive devices, future care	Medical reports, hospital accounts, prescriptions, and (for future costs) a medico-legal report	Prescribed RAF tariffs and reasonable future-cost projections

The Serious Injury Threshold for General Damages

General damages are not recoverable as of right. The Road Accident Fund Amendment Act 19 of 2005 inserted the serious injury threshold into the framework, and section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Regulations, 2014 now sets the operational test: before a claimant may receive general damages, the injury must be classified as a “serious injury.”

A “serious injury” is one that resulted in, among others:

• permanent long-term impairment;
• serious long-term mental or severe long-term physical injury; or
• death.

The assessment is made by the RAF, drawing on medical evidence and the prescribed Serious Injury Assessment Regulations. This is not a procedural formality: it is the substantive gateway to general damages, and the section 17 process — including the narrative test and the prescribed injury categories — has been the subject of sustained litigation and academic commentary since 2008.

The serious injury threshold does not apply to claims for loss of earnings or medical expenses. Those heads are recoverable regardless of severity. It applies only to general damages.

Statutory Time Limits and Prescription

Prescription is the most common reason a potentially valid RAF claim fails. The operative rules are:

• Standard period: three years from the date of the accident.
• Latent injury: three years from the date of knowledge of the injury, where the harm was not immediately apparent.
• Minor claimants: the prescription period runs from the date the minor turns 18, not from the date of the accident.
• Persons under legal disability: the prescription period is suspended while the disability persists.

Lapsing the prescription period is generally fatal to the claim. There is no exemption for small claims. The operative prescription trigger is the lodgement of the RAF 1 form with the Fund — not the date of filing a court summons. A claimant who delays beyond the three-year window should not assume that an attorney can resurrect the file; the practical advice is to obtain and lodge the form well before prescription runs.

Documentary Requirements: The RAF 1 Form and Supporting Documents

The lodgement must begin with the prescribed RAF 1 claim form, completed in full and commissioned by a commissioner of oaths. The form itself is downloaded from the RAF’s prescribed forms page; this article does not reproduce the form, but the supporting documents that must accompany it are listed below.

Document	Purpose
Certified copy of the claimant’s ID	Identity verification
Accident report with the police docket number	Establishes the accident, the road, the vehicles, and the locus
Medical reports and hospital records	Documents the injuries and the diagnosis
Employment and IRP5 / tax records	Supports the loss-of-earnings head of damage
Proof of medical expenses (accounts, prescriptions)	Supports past and future medical-expense claims
Police affidavits and witness statements (where available)	Corroborates how the accident occurred

The RAF may request further documentation during its investigation — typically through a Form 4 or a request for further particulars. Incomplete files stall the claim; missing signatures, outdated tariffs, or unindexed annexures routinely delay resolution. A well-prepared RAF 1 submission, supported by a properly paginated evidence bundle, materially shortens the investigation timeline.

The RAF Claims Process, Step by Step

1. Obtain the prescribed RAF 1 form from the Road Accident Fund’s official claims portal or from a firm that handles RAF matters.
2. Complete the form in full and have it commissioned by a commissioner of oaths.
3. Lodge the form with the RAF by registered post or at a RAF office, together with the supporting documents listed above.
4. Cooperate with the RAF investigation — the Fund may issue a Form 4 or request additional information, which must be answered timeously.
5. Receive the RAF’s response — a Form 2 acceptance (with an offer and any apportionment for contributory negligence) or a Form 2 notice denying the claim.
6. If accepted: take or negotiate the offer. If denied: issue summons in the appropriate division of the High Court (or Regional Court, depending on jurisdictional amount) to dispute the denial.
7. Where the RAF is the defendant, the Gauteng Division of the High Court is the operative division — because the RAF is a national juristic entity headquartered in Centurion, regardless of where in South Africa the accident occurred.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice, led by Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo at the Roodepoort branch, runs disputed RAF files through the Gauteng Division. The Centurion branch (Block 12, Unit 34, First Floor, Central Office Park, 257 Jean Avenue, 012 644 4990) is the practical filing and liaison point for RAF work across Gauteng, given the Fund’s national head office is in Centurion.

The 2024 RAF Amendment Act and the Direct Claims Framework

The Road Accident Fund Amendment Act 10 of 2024 introduced a direct claims framework for specified categories of claims. The framework is intended to reduce the historical backlog and to allow specified claims to be lodged directly with the RAF under prescribed timelines, rather than working through the older investigatory process for every category.

Practitioners are still working through the operational details of the new framework — the transitional regulations, the prescribed timelines, and the categories of claim eligible for the direct route continue to evolve. What the 2024 Act does not do is replace the underlying substantive requirements: the RAF 1 form, the supporting documents, and the serious injury threshold for general damages remain in place. The amendment alters the procedural pathway, not the merits test.

What Happens After You Lodge Your Claim

Once lodged, the RAF takes the file into investigation. The actuarial and medical-evidence calendars typically run to several months after lodgement — a routine RAF file will not settle within the first quarter. Where the RAF accepts liability and makes an offer, settlement follows the prescribed tariff for future medical expenses and an actuarial calculation for future loss of earnings. Where the Fund denies the claim, or offers an amount the claimant disputes, the correct route is to issue summons in the Gauteng Division of the High Court (because the RAF is a national juristic entity) and to litigate the dispute to settlement or trial.

Why Use an Attorney for an RAF Claim

A claimant may lodge a RAF 1 form personally. The dispute pathway, however, is heavily paper-driven: a missing signature, an outdated tariff, or an unindexed annexure stalls the file, and denials and apportionment disputes typically land in the Gauteng Division of the High Court under the RAF Act. The 2024 direct claims framework adds a new procedural layer that an attorney familiar with the practice directive can navigate efficiently.

An attorney who runs RAF files regularly will also know which heads of damage are realistically recoverable on the facts, what the prescribed tariff looks like for the type of injury involved, and how to structure the Form 2 response. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice, under the leadership of Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo (specialist in MVA claims and insurance repudiations, based at the Roodepoort branch), is built around exactly this kind of High Court motion work.

A first consultation to confirm eligibility and to plan the route is normally a half-hour booking at the head office in Linden, Randburg (011 888 0246 / 061 516 6878) or at the Centurion branch (012 644 4990, after-hours 061 516 7117).

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to claim from the Road Accident Fund?

The standard claim must be lodged within three years of the accident, or within three years of the date of knowledge of the injury if the harm was not immediately apparent. For minor claimants, the prescription period runs from the date the claimant turns 18. Lapsing the prescription period is generally fatal to the claim, so prospective claimants should not delay obtaining a RAF 1 form even if they are still in active medical treatment.

What can I claim from the RAF?

Three categories of damage are claimable: general damages (pain and suffering, loss of amenities, disfigurement) subject to the serious injury threshold; past and future loss of earnings; and past and future medical expenses. Each head has its own evidentiary requirements and the prescribed tariffs apply to future medical expenses.

What is the serious injury threshold?

The serious injury threshold is the requirement, introduced by the Road Accident Fund Amendment Act 19 of 2005 and now regulated under section 17 of the Road Accident Fund Regulations, 2014, that before a claimant may receive general damages, the injury must be classified as a “serious injury” — typically one that resulted in permanent long-term impairment, serious long-term mental or severe long-term physical injury, or death. The assessment is made by the RAF against the Serious Injury Assessment Regulations.

Do I need an attorney to claim from the RAF?

A claimant may lodge a RAF 1 form personally. However, the dispute pathway — particularly where the RAF issues a Form 2 denial or a contested offer — lands in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, and the litigation is heavily paper-driven. Most claimants who ultimately dispute the RAF use an attorney, particularly given the direct claims framework introduced under the 2024 amendment dispensation.

How long does an RAF claim take?

From lodgement, the RAF investigation typically runs several months. Where the claim is accepted, settlement follows the prescribed tariff and actuarial work. Where the claim is denied, the file moves into the Gauteng Division of the High Court for litigation, which materially lengthens the timeline and is the point at which most claimants instruct an attorney.

Can I claim if I am partly at fault?

Yes. The RAF regime is not strict no-fault — the claimant’s own contributory negligence does not bar the claim but reduces the recovery proportionally under standard apportionment principles. Passengers and pedestrians can claim even where the driver of their own vehicle was at fault.

Can I claim if the driver was uninsured or the vehicle was unidentified?

Yes. The RAF is the statutory insurer behind the driver’s insurance, so the claim is lodged against the RAF, not the driver. Hit-and-run incidents and claims against unidentified vehicles are handled through the standard RAF claims process, with the supporting documents often relying on the police docket rather than a driver statement.