Do You Have A Road Accident Fund Story To Tell?

Have you been awaiting your Road Accident Fund compensation, and are wondering why it is taking so long to pay out? What if the money has been paid out and your lawyer keeps telling you RAF still hasn’t paid out just so he scores a good interest for himself? It is possible that your money was paid out a long time ago, but your lawyer has declared you incapable of handling your own affairs and appointed himself as your proxy.
In my 16-year career as a journalist, I have unearthed countless stories of corruption, fraud and plain thuggery by those put in positions of power and trust. The stories that have hurt me the most, however, have been those of the theft of Road Accident Fund benefits – theft not from the fund itself, but by lawyers stealing from those who are supposed to receive the money.
In Delmas, Mpumalanga, I unearthed a sodded tale of a man who lost his leg in a car accident. His life got so bad that he lived in the streets as a hobo, while waiting for his lawyer to inform him about the progress of his RAF claim. Unbeknownst to him, the lawyer had received the money, over R1 million, two years earlier, but had been telling his client that the RAF is yet to pay out. Now and then, the lawyer would give him loans of between R1000 and R2500, promising to deduct the money when his benefits are finally paid out.
In Secunda, another client who used the same lawyer had been awaiting his payout for over three years. What he didn’t know was that the money had in fact been paid out, and that the loans the lawyer had been giving him were from his own money. The man lived in abject poverty, plagued daily by the aches and pains from the hoffiric injuries he sustained in the car accident, unaware that he was already a multi-millionaire.
In Bronkhorstspruit, Groblersdal and Mashishing I dug up the tragic accounts of three vehicle accident victims who simply vanished on the eve of their RAF payouts. One of them was found a day after he vanished. He was dead and his body run over by countless cars on the N12. The last people known to have seen them were their lawyers.
In Springs, I was tipped off about a lawyer who receives the clients’ benefits, but does not immediately dispense the monies to the people who desperately need it. The clients need the money for, amongst many other pressing needs, their medical bills and necessities of life such as food, transportation and shelter. The legal eagle without clout opted to keep the money in his bank account for up to six months to a year, so it would accumulate interest that he wouldn’t dispense to the client. This is over and above his 25% of the payout that he is allowed by law to pocket for his services.
Of course, some lawyers cut themselves quite a bigger slice, bigger than the 25% they are allowed by law. After all, how would the client even know? Most clients are so excited at receiving the windfall, they don’t bother to do the Math or check exactly how much is due to them.
But how are these lawyers able to do this and get away with it? Simple: they set up a trust and their clients’ payouts are then paid into this trust. Next, they declare the client mentally incapable of handling his or her own affairs. The lawyers then appoint themselves as trustees, practically giving themselves proxy or signatory powers over the clients’ benefits. The Delmas homeless man for example, was at the lawyer’s mercy in that the lawyer built him a shack on an illegal piece of land near the N12, just to separate him from people who were trying to help him. Yes, he was a squatter camp millionaire. A man worth over R1million lived in a shack!
Whatever the rot or modus operandi employed, the fact is, these lawyers without clout are living lavish lives at your expense, and now it is time they are exposed and stopped. In the next three months, we intend to hold interviews with those people who have been through bizarre situations with lawyers who were supposed to help them but turned around and made a meal of them.

Who Do We Need To Hear From?

1. We want to hear from people who received their RAF benefits but suspect they might have been short-changed by their lawyers.
2. We want to hear from people who suspect their lawyers might have taken a bigger cut than they should have.
3. We want to hear from people who, through their lawyers, have claimed from the RAF but suspect the lawyer might have received the funds and is witholding them from him/her.
4. We need to hear from people whose lawyers are generous enough to give them loans but aren’t forthcoming about their RAF benefits.
5. We need to hear from people who have lost loved ones who have been awaiting benefits from the Road Accident Fund.

What Would Be Expected Of You?

1. While we investigate the matter and assist you, we will need you to consent to an interview on camera.
2. Our investigation and assistance will be free of charge. Anyone who claims to represent us and asks you for money is not a member of our team.
3. Sign a consent form / release for the video material to be broadcast on TV, newspapers, magazine and on online platforms.
4. Provide us with all documentation that will assist us in our investigations.
5. Acknowledge that our intervention might not have further financial benefits for you, but will assist in rooting out bad elements in the legal fraternity.
6. Depending on the nature of your case, you might be expected to have further engagements with law enforcement agencies including the Law Society of South Africa.
   Do you have a story to tell? Then contact us on WhatsApp at 083 487 4440, or email info@publishdafrika.com.

Photo: Timothy Mkhabela’s lawyer received over R1 million in RAF benefits, but kept telling Timothy that his compensation still has not been paid out. To separate Timothy from people who might show him the light, the lawyer built him a shack near the N12.