What Kind of Injuries Does RAF Pay For? | How To Lodge A Valid Claim

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) compensates bodily injuries caused by motor vehicles in South Africa under the Road Accident Fund Act, with a valid claim covering general damages (pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, and disfigurement), past and future loss of earnings where statutory conditions are met, past and future medical and related expenses, and — on death — loss of support and funeral costs. A claim becomes valid by lodging the prescribed claim form (Form RAF 1) on the correct RAF office, in person or by registered post, together with supporting documentation, within the prescribed claim period, against an identified owner or driver of the offending motor vehicle. Claims that are not properly pleaded, not supported by the required documents, or that fall outside the statutory categories are rejected before the merits are assessed — which is why the lodgement phase matters as much as the underlying injury itself.

What the Road Accident Fund Is and What It Covers

The Road Accident Fund is the statutory body established under the Road Accident Fund Act to compensate victims of motor vehicle accidents in South Africa. It is funded primarily through the fuel levy and operates as the mandatory first-line insurer for bodily injury caused by motor vehicles on South African roads. The Fund’s role is narrow and statutory: it pays victims of bodily injury — not damage to property — and only where liability is established against an identified owner or driver of the offending vehicle, or where the statutory exception for unidentified or uninsured drivers applies.

Specifically, the RAF pays:

• Victims of bodily injury caused by motor vehicles — drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and others caught in the collision.
• Dependants of a deceased victim, in respect of loss of support and funeral expenses.

The Fund does not cover:

• Damage to the claimant’s own vehicle — that is a short-term insurance matter, not an RAF claim.
• Losses that fall outside the statutory compensation categories under the RAF Act.
• Claims arising in circumstances specifically excluded by the Act, including certain claims where the claimant was the sole party at fault in prescribed circumstances, or injuries sustained during the commission of a serious offence.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice handles RAF matters across Gauteng, led by Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo, whose specialisations include MVA claims and insurance repudiations.

The Categories of Compensable Injury Claims

The RAF Act sets out the specific heads of compensation that may be claimed. Each category has its own evidentiary requirements and (in some cases) its own statutory cap. The categories are:

Category	What It Covers	Statutory Basis
General damages	Pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, disfigurement, and loss of life expectancy — calculated under the Serious Injury Assessment (“SIA”) regime (the “Most Serious Injury” / MSI tariff) as updated by case law.	Section 17, RAF Act
Past loss of earnings	Income lost between the date of the accident and the date of settlement or trial.	RAF Act (loss-of-earnings provisions)
Future loss of earnings	Loss of earning capacity going forward, typically calculated on the actuarial basis developed by case law and subject to the statutory cap.	RAF Act as amended
Past medical and related expenses	Hospital, surgical, rehabilitation, pharmaceutical, and assistive-device costs reasonably incurred as a result of the injuries.	RAF Act (medical-expense benefits)
Future medical and related expenses	Treatment, care, and assistive devices reasonably likely to be incurred as a result of the injuries.	RAF Act (medical-expense benefits)
Loss of support	For dependants of a deceased victim — the proportion of income the deceased would have contributed.	Death-claim provisions, RAF Act
Funeral expenses	Reasonable burial costs in a death claim.	Death-claim provisions, RAF Act

Note: Settlements paid under the Act are subject to statutory tariff deductions for past hospital and medical expenses — a feature of the regime that can materially reduce the net amount paid to a claimant, and which should be factored into quantum planning from the outset.

What Kinds of Injuries the RAF Pays For

The RAF pays for bodily injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents that meet its statutory criteria. The injury categories that commonly give rise to compensable claims include:

• Orthopaedic injuries — fractures, severe soft-tissue injuries, dislocations, joint and ligament damage.
• Traumatic brain injuries — closed and open head injuries, post-concussion syndrome, cognitive impairment.
• Spinal cord injuries — including paraplegia and quadriplegia.
• Amputations — loss of limb or digit directly attributable to the collision.
• Internal injuries — organ damage, internal bleeding, abdominal trauma.
• Disfigurement — scarring and visible deformity.
• Psychological injuries — PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders — where properly pleaded and supported by expert evidence.

Severity drives the general-damages tariff. A minor whiplash claim is assessed and valued differently from a major spinal cord injury under the Serious Injury Assessment regime — the more serious the injury, the higher the tariff bracket. Pre-existing conditions are not a complete bar to recovery; the claim is reduced by the proportion of loss attributable to the pre-existing condition under the so-called “egg-shell skull” rule, rather than being defeated in its entirety.

The narrowly defined statutory exclusions apply to:

• Injuries sustained during the commission of a serious offence.
• Injuries wholly self-inflicted in prescribed circumstances.
• Injuries caused by an uninsured or unidentified driver where the statutory conditions for the Uninsured/Unknown hit-and-run recovery regime are not met.

How to Lodge a Valid Claim — the Lodgement Phase

The lodgement phase is procedural but decisive — getting it wrong results in a rejection before the merits are reached. A claim becomes valid by being lodged in the correct form, on the correct office, with the correct documents, within the prescribed claim period.

1. Obtain the prescribed claim form (Form RAF 1) from the RAF website, any RAF regional office, or your attorney. Informal letters, emails, and phone calls do not constitute valid lodgement under the RAF Act.
2. Complete the form fully and accurately. Identify the third party (driver and owner of the offending vehicle), the vehicle itself (registration number, make and model), the place and date of the accident, and the injury sustained.
3. Attach the supporting documents required by the RAF: identity document of the claimant, accident report (where one is available — i.e. SAPS case number or accident report), particulars of loss, medical report(s), and where relevant salary slips, tax returns, or employer letters.
4. Lodge the form on the correct RAF office — typically the office covering the area where the accident occurred, or where the claimant resides. Lodgement may be made in person or by registered post.
5. Retain the stamped copy of the form as proof of lodgement. The date of lodgement anchors the rest of the matter — it triggers the statutory investigation period and is the operative date for any subsequent litigation step.

Common Reasons a Claim Gets Rejected as Invalid

The RAF routinely rejects files at the lodgement stage for the following reasons. Knowing them in advance is the simplest way to avoid an unnecessary delay:

• Not lodged on Form RAF 1. Informal communication to the Fund is not a valid lodgement, even where the substance of the claim has been disclosed in writing elsewhere.
• Lodgement outside the prescribed claim period, calculated from the date of the accident (or, in a death claim, from the date of death).
• Missing supporting documents required by the RAF to adjudicate the file — identity document, accident report, medical report, particularised quantum schedule.
• Failure to identify the offending vehicle, its driver, and its owner correctly. Where the offending vehicle is unidentified, the special Uninsured/Unknown hit-and-run regime applies and has its own additional requirements.
• Bringing a claim under a non-statutory category. Vehicle damage only, pure economic loss unrelated to bodily injury, and claims for non-financial losses outside the general-damages scope are not within the RAF’s statutory remit.

What Happens After Lodgement

Once a claim is validly lodged, the RAF investigates the file, may request further information, and ultimately issues one of three decisions:

• An offer to settle the claim in the statutory amounts.
• A partial offer — covering some but not all heads of claim.
• A rejection of the claim.

If the matter is rejected, under-offered, or the RAF fails to respond within the statutory period, the matter proceeds to litigation. RAF matters are heard in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, with the Pretoria seat acting as the principal registry for RAF litigation; smaller-value RAF files sit in the Regional Court where the claim falls within its jurisdictional ceiling. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ membership in the Pretoria Attorneys Association places it within the relevant regional practitioner body for Pretoria-registry RAF litigation.

Timelines vary widely. Settlements reached through the administrative process can be final in months; contested claims that proceed to litigation typically take one to three years or longer to finalise, depending on the medical complexity, the quantum contested, and RAF backlogs at the relevant registry.

Time-bars apply throughout — claims not progressed within statutory timeframes risk prescription, after which the right to claim is permanently lost.

What a Valid RAF Claim Looks Like in Practice

A properly constituted RAF file contains the following elements, regardless of the specific category or quantum of the claim:

Element	What It Looks Like
Identification of the accident	The vehicle involved (registration and make), the driver and owner of the offending vehicle, the date and place of the collision, and the SAPS case number where one exists.
Medical evidence	A medical report — ideally from a treating specialist — evidencing the injury, the treatment received, the prognosis, and any ongoing functional limitations.
Quantum schedule	A document mapping each claim category (general damages, past medical, future medical, past loss of earnings, future loss of earnings) to a specific calculated amount, supported by documentary evidence.
Past-loss evidence	Salary slips, tax returns, invoices, employer letters, and any other documentation evidencing income lost and expenses incurred.
Future-loss evidence	Actuarial calculations where the future-loss-of-earnings component is material.
Capacity to sue	The claimant must have legal capacity — minors and persons under legal incapacity require a curator ad litem or guardian to act on their behalf.

Choosing Whether You Need an Attorney

A purely administrative lodgement on Form RAF 1 — where the injury is straightforward, the third party is identified, and the quantum is modest — can be done by the claimant personally. The Fund’s own How to Claim page (raf.co.za) sets out the standard lodgement procedure for individuals.

An attorney tends to add value where any of the following apply:

• The claim is contested or the RAF has issued a rejection.
• The quantum is meaningful, in particular the future-loss-of-earnings component, which requires actuarial input and familiarity with the statutory cap.
• The matter is going to proceed in the Gauteng Division, where pleading rules, motion practice, and discovery obligations apply in full.
• The claimant is a minor or lacks capacity, requiring a curator ad litem.
• The third party is uninsured or unidentified, triggering the special Uninsured/Unknown regime and its additional procedural steps.

MVA and RAF litigation is motion-court work that requires sustained exposure to the practitioner forum. A generalist practitioner without motion-court experience in this area is rarely the right fit once a matter reaches the litigation stage. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice — run through Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo’s MVA and insurance-repudiation team — fields this work across the firm’s Gauteng branches, including Roodepoort under her directorship.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the RAF pay for any injury sustained in a motor vehicle accident?

No. Only injuries that fall within the statutory categories under the Road Accident Fund Act — general damages (pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, disfigurement), past and future medical and related expenses, loss of earnings, and (on death) loss of support and funeral expenses. Pre-existing conditions are deducted from any award.

What makes an RAF claim valid?

A valid claim is lodged on Form RAF 1, on the correct RAF office, in person or by registered post, together with the required supporting documents (ID, accident details, medical report, particulars of loss), within the prescribed claim period. Informal communication to the RAF does not count.

Does the RAF pay even when the other driver is uninsured, unidentified, or fled the scene?

The RAF pays in defined circumstances regardless of whether the other driver is insured, identified, or traceable; the statutory liability sits with the Fund, not with the individual driver’s insurer, and the Uninsured/Unknown hit-and-run regime sets out the limited conditions under which this category of claim proceeds.

How long does a valid RAF claim take to settle?

Clean administrative claims can settle in a matter of months; contested claims that proceed to litigation typically take one to three years or longer, depending on the medical complexity, the quantum contested, and RAF backlogs.

Can I claim loss of earnings if I am self-employed or run an informal business?

Yes, but the claim has to be supported by appropriate evidence — financial statements, tax returns, the business’ books, and an accountant’s report on lost income — and the capped statutory regime applies to the future-earning component.

Will I have to go to court?

Not if the matter settles through the RAF’s administrative process. If the matter is contested and reaches litigation, a trial may be required for unresolved disputes of fact or quantum; an attorney will advise on the merits of trial versus settlement for any specific file.

If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident and need to assess whether you have a valid RAF claim, Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice can advise on lodgement, quantum, and the litigation path where the Fund does not settle administratively. The firm handles RAF matters through Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo’s MVA and insurance-repudiation team, with files run across the firm’s Gauteng branches. Contact the head office on 011 888 0246 (after-hours 061 516 6878) or visit 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2195, and the matter will be routed to the correct branch. The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified).