How Much Does RAF Pay for Eye Injury in South Africa?

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) compensates eye injuries sustained in motor-vehicle collisions under the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 across three heads of damage — general damages for the bodily injury itself (quantified by a court against precedent, with publicly reported grants for total loss of an eye running into the low-millions), loss of earnings (past and future), and reasonable medical and hospital expenses capped at the RAF’s prescribed tariff. There is no fixed “RAF tariff for an eye” — the amount paid depends on the seriousness of the injury (total blindness in one eye, total blindness, partial loss of vision, or cosmetic disfigurement), the claimant’s earning capacity, and the medical expenses actually incurred. A claim must be lodged on the prescribed form within two years of the accident (the prescription period), and where general damages are claimed above a threshold the claim must additionally satisfy the “serious injury” requirement under section 17 of the RAF Act as it stands after the 2024/2025 amendments.

The Legal Regime: RAF Claims Under the Road Accident Fund Act

The Road Accident Fund is the statutory insurer created by the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 (as amended), funded through the fuel levy and liable to compensate victims of motor-vehicle collisions in South Africa for bodily injury or death caused by the negligent driving of a motor vehicle. The Act obliges the RAF to compensate victims on a no-fault basis, subject to the statutory caps and the procedural requirements discussed below.

The Road Accident Fund Amendment Acts (most recently the amendments in 2024/2025) reformed the claims process — including the introduction of a “serious injury” threshold and a reduced claims-handling timeline in some respects — but the substantive heads of damage (general damages, loss of earnings, and medical expenses) remain the core of any eye-injury claim. The Act does not apply to claims where the only loss is emotional or psychological with no bodily injury, nor to claims arising from accidents where the vehicle was stationary and being loaded or unloaded (with limited exceptions).

RAF claims follow a national claims process administered by the Road Accident Fund’s regional offices. When a claim is disputed and needs to be litigated, Gauteng-based claimants file in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, which sits in Johannesburg (the South Gauteng High Court, the Gauteng Local Division) for matters in the southern and western Gauteng catchment, and at the Pretoria seat (the Gauteng Division, Pretoria) for matters in the northern Gauteng and Tshwane catchment. The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg is the most common filing venue for matters arising from accidents on the N1, N3, N12, M1 and M2 corridors and for matters involving the RAF’s Johannesburg regional office.

The Three Heads of Damage in an Eye Injury RAF Claim

Every RAF claim — eye injury or otherwise — is built from the same three legal heads of damage. The breakdown matters because the evidence, the experts, and the quantum argument differ for each:

Head of Damage	What It Covers	How It Is Quantified
General damages	The pain, suffering, disfigurement, and loss of amenities of life caused by the eye injury itself.	Set by a court against precedent — there is no published tariff. Severity (total blindness, loss of one eye, partial vision loss, cosmetic disfigurement) drives the award, with publicly reported grants for total loss of an eye running in the low-millions.
Loss of earnings (past and future)	Loss of income the claimant has already suffered, and loss of future earning capacity caused by the eye injury (including vocational rehabilitation in some cases).	Calculated from pre- and post-accident income, residual earning capacity, and contingencies. For severe eye injuries — especially where the claimant’s occupation depends on good vision — this can be the largest head.
Medical and hospital expenses	Reasonable past and future medical, hospital, surgical, optical, and rehabilitation costs.	Capped at the RAF’s prescribed tariff of fees (the “RAF tariff”) for past expenses; future medical costs are usually agreed on a once-and-for-all lump-sum basis with actuarial input.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice is built around exactly this structure — every RAF file runs through the same three-headed analysis, with the evidence and expert reports tailored to the injury (in this case, ophthalmology, optometry, and vocational experts).

Why There Is No Single “RAF Amount” for an Eye Injury

The RAF does not publish a fixed tariff per injury type — general damages are left to the courts to assess against precedent. Three consequences follow from this, and they are the reason the same word “eye injury” can attach to very different outcomes on the RAF schedule:

• The same injury in different claimants can attract materially different awards — because loss of earnings is claimant-specific, a working-age claimant with a documented income trajectory will recover more than an unemployed retiree with the same clinical picture.
• An identical injury in an employed professional (a driver, machinist, or pilot whose livelihood depends on vision) typically attracts a much larger settlement than the same injury in a claimant with no income-loss claim.
• The visible benchmark in this category is a publicly reported R3,322,390.00 RAF grant for a client who lost an eye — that figure combines general damages and loss of earnings for a working-age claimant with a documented income loss, and is illustrative of the order of magnitude rather than a guaranteed baseline.

Total Loss of One Eye vs Partial Loss of Vision vs Cosmetic Disfigurement

Eye injuries fall into a recognisable spectrum, and the category the ophthalmologist assigns the case into drives both the general-damages argument and the serious-injury analysis:

Category	Clinical Picture	What Drives the Award
Total blindness in one eye (enucleation or no light perception)	The eye is lost, or non-functional. Most serious end of the spectrum.	General damages are the highest in this category. The loss-of-earnings claim is strongest where the claimant’s occupation requires binocular vision (drivers, pilots, machinists, certain trades).
Partial loss of vision in one or both eyes	Residual visual acuity, possibly reduced field of vision. Severity is fact-specific.	An ophthalmologist quantifies the residual visual acuity and field of vision, and that finding drives the general-damages assessment.
Cosmetic disfigurement with functional vision	The eye is intact but scarred or disfigured.	The claim is driven more by general damages for disfigurement and any psychological impact than by loss of vision.
Blindness in both eyes	Catastrophic upper bound of the spectrum.	Treated under the same RAF heads but at materially higher quantum, with ongoing care and assistance needs typically added under loss of amenities or loss of earnings.

The Procedural Steps to Lodge an Eye Injury Claim

An RAF eye-injury claim moves through six predictable steps. The order matters: skip a step early and the file stalls or fails later.

1. Obtain the accident report from SAPS and the identity details of the other driver and vehicle.
2. Seek medical attention and ensure the ophthalmological findings are fully documented in clinical records (visual acuity, field of vision, diagnosis, prognosis, recommended treatment).
3. Lodge the claim on the RAF’s prescribed form (Form RAF 1 — “Claim for Compensation”) with the supporting documents, ordinarily within two years of the date of the accident (the prescription period under the RAF Act).
4. Await the RAF’s investigation and the issuing of an interim settlement offer or a formal settlement offer.
5. If the claim is disputed — particularly where the RAF raises a liability defence or disputes quantum — litigate in the Gauteng Division of the High Court (Johannesburg seat for Gauteng-based claimants) or the South Gauteng High Court, with the RAF’s regional office in the area handling the matter on its side.
6. Accept a settlement offer, or obtain a court order, and finalise payment.

The “Serious Injury” Requirement (Section 17 and Recent Amendments)

Under section 17 of the RAF Act (as it currently stands, taking into account the 2024/2025 amendment regime), a claimant seeking general damages for an eye injury must usually demonstrate that the injury is a “serious injury” — the threshold covers significant long-term impairments and disfigurement. A total loss of one eye or partial loss of vision in either eye typically satisfies the “serious injury” threshold; the assessment is made against the published Serious Injury Guidelines.

The serious-injury assessment is procedural, not a merits test on whether the accident was caused by a negligent driver. Claimants whose injury does not pass the threshold can still claim loss of earnings and medical expenses — which is why an early merits opinion from a litigation attorney matters even before the medical picture has fully stabilised.

Practical Considerations: Cost, Timeline, What to Bring

Three operational questions sit on top of every RAF claim. None of them has a single answer, but the framework for each is settled:

Practical Point	What to Expect
Cost	RAF claims are typically run on a contingency-fee basis by litigation attorneys, with the attorney’s fee capped by the Contingency Fees Act 66 of 1997. No upfront retainer is usually required, and a written contingency fee agreement is provided before the file opens.
Timeline	An uncontested, well-documented claim can resolve in six to twelve months. A disputed claim — especially one where the RAF denies liability or contests the serious-injury finding — can take two to four years through litigation.
What to bring to the first consultation	Identity document; accident report (SAPS case number); photographs of the scene and the injury; clinical records and ophthalmology reports; proof of pre-accident income (payslips, IRP5, SARS records); and any correspondence already received from the RAF.

Burger Huyser Attorneys handles RAF and MVA claims — including eye-injury matters — through its general litigation practice, run by Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo (who specialises in MVA claims and insurance repudiations). Gauteng-based claimants can be received at the head office in Linden, Randburg (49 First Avenue, 011 888 0246), the Bedfordview branch (45A Florence Ave, 011 201 7190), or the Roodepoort branch (16 Galena Ave, Helderkruin, 011 668 0030) — the choice depending on which is closest. The Road Accident Fund itself (raf.co.za) remains the authoritative source for the current prescribed claim form, the applicable tariff, and the serious-injury guidelines under the current dispensation.

RAF eye-injury claims turn on the medical record, the earning-capacity record, and the procedural discipline of lodging within the two-year prescription period. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ general litigation practice handles MVA and RAF claims, including eye-injury matters, through Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo and the Gauteng-based litigation team. To discuss a claim, contact the head office in Linden, Randburg on 011 888 0246 (after-hours 061 516 6878) or visit 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2195; the Bedfordview branch on 011 201 7190 (45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview); or the Roodepoort branch on 011 668 0030 (16 Galena Avenue, Helderkruin). Initial consultations are booked directly with the litigation practice, and the firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”).

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the RAF pay for losing one eye in South Africa?

There is no fixed RAF tariff for the loss of an eye — general damages are quantified by a court against precedent, and combined loss-of-earnings awards depend on the claimant’s pre-accident income and residual earning capacity. Publicly reported grants in total-loss-of-eye cases have run in the order of R3 million and up for working-age claimants with documented income loss; less severe eye injuries attract proportionally smaller awards. A litigation attorney can give a defensible range once the medical and income records are in.

Does the RAF pay for partial loss of vision?

Yes. Partial loss of vision is compensable under the same heads of damage as total loss of an eye, with the award driven by the severity of the residual visual impairment (visual acuity, field of vision, and functional impact), the claimant’s earning-capacity loss, and medical expenses. Whether the claim clears the “serious injury” threshold under section 17 of the RAF Act depends on the clinical finding.

How long do I have to lodge an RAF claim for an eye injury?

The standard prescription period is two years from the date of the accident, under the RAF Act. There are limited exceptions (e.g. where the injury manifests later, or where the claimant is a minor), but in practice the claim should be lodged as soon as the medical picture is reasonably clear — late lodgement can be fatal to a claim.

Can I claim from the RAF if the accident was partly my fault?

Yes — the RAF operates on a no-fault basis, so apportionment of negligence between drivers does not generally bar the claim. The claimant’s own contributory negligence may, however, reduce the quantum of damages awarded under the Apportionment of Damages Act.

What documents do I need to prove my eye injury claim?

SAPS accident report, full clinical and ophthalmological records (including visual acuity measurements, field-of-vision tests, and the treating ophthalmologist’s report on diagnosis and prognosis), proof of pre-accident income (payslips, IRP5, SARS returns), proof of medical and optical expenses already incurred, and any out-of-pocket costs attributable to the injury.

Does Burger Huyser Attorneys handle RAF eye injury claims?

Yes — the firm’s general litigation practice handles RAF/MVA claims, including eye injury matters, through the Gauteng-based litigation team. Initial consultations are typically booked at the Linden head office (011 888 0246) or the Bedfordview branch (011 201 7190).