The chief executive of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), Collins Letsoalo, has had to defend against no less than three contempt of court applications in so many months for the alleged failure to adhere to court rulings issued in relation to the fund’s apparent refusal to assess or pay valid claims to medical scheme members.
In the latest instance, Thembisile Msibi, RAF’s board chairperson, and Letsoalo faced legal action for ignoring a court order to compensate Hellen Mabule, a victim of an accident in April 2021.
Since 12 August 2022, the RAF has stopped processing claims from medical scheme members injured in road accidents. This decision followed a directive to RAF offices, halting the processing of such claims.
Critics argue that the 2022 directive is unlawful and contradicts section 17 of the RAF Act, which requires the RAF to pay claimants’ proven damages, including for past medical expenses.
Read: RAF claims ‘out of ICU’, but hundreds of millions still owed to medical scheme clients
Mabule’s lawyer, Theo Mapheto, filed an urgent court application to force the RAF to adhere to a ruling issued by Judge Brad Wanless on 19 March. The order instructed the RAF to accept delivery “forthwith on 22 March 2024 before close of business” of Mabule’s documents embodying her claim for compensation and for the fund to pay the costs of the application.
Judge Namhla Silwendu heard Mapheto’s urgent application in the High Court in Johannesburg.
Online news platform Sunday World reported that in the urgent court application, Mapheto argued that the RAF and its leadership had blatantly disregarded Judge Wanless’s order.
On 4 April, Judge Siwendu ruled that the RAF unconditionally accept delivery of Mapheto’s claim documents by no later than 4.30pm that day and confirm acceptance in writing.
Moneyweb reported that Judge Siwendu issued an interim order (rule nisi) requiring Msibi, and Letsoalo to submit affidavits by 8am the next day explaining why they should not face:
- being declared in contempt of Judge Wanless’s order;
- a court-imposed fine on the RAF, Msibi, and Letsoalo;
- possible imprisonment for Msibi and Letsoalo, with a suspension under conditions set by the court; and
- personal costs against Msibi and Letsoalo.
Judge Siwendu also ordered the RAF to submit another affidavit by 5 April, confirming its complete compliance with Judge Wanless’s order.
In a subsequent court order issued on 9 April, Judge Siwendu ordered that, after hearing from the parties and reviewing the affidavits submitted according to the 4 April order, the late submission of Msibi’s affidavit was allowed and the rule nisi against the RAF, Msibi, and Letsoalo was discharged.
The RAF was ordered to pay the costs of the urgent application, including its share of the costs from the 9 April, on the attorney-client fee scale.
Mapheto says the High Court has demonstrated that no person or institution is above the law.
“The courts agree with our view that the RAF’s insistence on its board directives of 2022 has been irrational from the beginning,” he says.
As far as Mabule’s claim is concerned, Mapheto says they are watching the RAF closely to see how it deals with this claim.
“The RAF has on numerous occasions refused to receive the claim until we had to approach the court as a last resort. We have standing instructions to approach the court should our client’s claim be treated differently going forward,” says Mapheto.
Doing the legal shuffle
Letsoalo was held in contempt of court on another matter (Mazibuko v the RAF) on 12 October last year. In this case, Judge Elizabeth Kubushi, sitting in the High Court in Pretoria, found Letsoalo in contempt of court for an order issued on 29 January 2018, relating to a claim submitted to the RAF by accident victim Nelson Cebiso Mazibuko in Mpumalanga.
Juta Medical Brief reported that Kubushi ordered that Letsoalo be committed to imprisonment for contempt of court for three months, suspended for one year, providing he complied with the order within 15 days of her order.
However, Letsoalo claimed he was unaware of the case and said the attorneys needed to prove they had served him the necessary papers. He stated that the RAF would apply to overturn the ruling because he and the RAF were not informed about it.
Five months later, on 11 March, the High Court partially heard an application to declare the RAF and Letsoalo in contempt of court. The application was based on the RAF’s apparent refusal to pay over R170 million in court-ordered medical expenses due to Discovery Health clients for injuries sustained in road traffic accidents.
Discovery Health served the contempt application on the RAF and Letsoalo in November last year after the RAF failed to resume payments following the Constitutional Court ruling on 18 October which denied the RAF’s appeal request.
Read: Discovery Health will seek contempt order against the RAF and its CEO
Read: Discovery wins in dispute with RAF over medical scheme members’ claims
Judge Noluntu Bam, who oversaw the case, said the hearing would be postponed and held before a full bench of three judges.
Deputy Judge President Ledwaba of the North Gauteng High Court has set down the matter between Discovery Health, RAF, and Letsoalo, to be heard by a full court on 20 and 21 June.
