The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has welcomed the five-year non-custodial sentence handed down to a 38-year-old woman in the Cradock Regional Court last week.

The woman was reportedly found guilty of submitting a fraudulent claim following a 2018 accident.

According to a statement by the RAF, the woman submitted the same claim twice – the first time alleging she had been involved in a vehicle crash in Motherwell, the second time stating she had been a pedestrian coming home from work at the time of the accident.

“Furthermore, she lied that she could not continue working, yet she was found to be unemployed. A Hawks investigation found (the woman) had misrepresented the facts in the matter, almost resulting in a loss of over R700 000 for the RAF. On April 4, she was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for five years,” the RAF said.

The financially-strung RAF said false claims have drained its limited resources and further strategies are being implemented by the Forensic Investigation Department to curb corruption internally and externally in the organisation.

This comes after the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) earlier this year placed the liabilities of RAF at over R300 billion in the red, facing a financial crisis.

During Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) briefing, deputy business unit leader at the AGSA, Nicholas Mokoena, and senior audit manager, Siphesihle Mlangeni, said current and long-term assets of RAF were unable to cover current and long-term liabilities, according to financial statements.

With regard to the sentence, RAF chief executive officer, Collins Letsoalo, said: “In the past three financial years, 2021/22 – 2023/24, 37 claimants were arrested for submitting fraudulent claims to the value of R48 million. A total of R65 million’s worth of claims were blocked over the same period as part of a crackdown on fraudulent and corrupt activities. Over the same period, 1 138 cases were referred to the South African Police Service, while 44 arrests were handed down, thanks to partnerships with various law enforcement agencies.

“Corruption continues to plague the organisation, and we will continue to guard against crooked claimants, medical experts, attorneys and employees. A thorough process is undertaken to scrutinise the validity of each claim, leading to the detection and deterrent of fraudulent activities. All accident survivors are encouraged to report suspicious fraudulent activities to the RAF with immediate effect,” said Letsoalo.

chevon.booysen@inl.co.za