
RAF’s balance sheet delivers a brutal reality check
The return to the GRAP accounting standard has put R452.4bn of liabilities back on the books – more than nine times the RAF’s annual income of R48.1bn.

The return to the GRAP accounting standard has put R452.4bn of liabilities back on the books – more than nine times the RAF’s annual income of R48.1bn.

The new CEO inherits a Fund grappling with a large claims backlog, mounting legal costs, and management instability.

The committee says delays in investigating and settling claims, combined with a chaotic approach to litigation, have driven much of the Fund’s escalating legal bill.

An arrangement intended to cost R10m for 10 months ran for years, absorbed R26.6m in seven months, and included claims work outside its scope.

SCOPA says linking attorneys’ success fees to claim values may create incentives to inflate claims, while billions in legal costs flow through a small group of firms.

The revived RAF 1 Form claims could create billions of rands in additional liability, with the Fund’s first-quarter average payment illustrating the potential scale of the exposure.

From loss of earnings to plaintiff attorneys, the quarter’s figures offer a closer look at where the RAF’s money is going.

Years of payment delays, missing invoices, and weak administration left medical experts unpaid, before the Fund sought to invoke prescription against some claims.

A Court-ordered reset of the RAF claims process may force recognition of previously excluded liabilities, with potentially severe consequences for the Fund and the fiscus.