Operations at the Road Accident Fund (RAF) offices in central Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, came to a halt earlier yesterday (Thursday) when a sheriff stormed the building and attached computers from the finance department.
The sheriff was acting on a legal instruction after a local law firm obtained a court order to force the RAF to settle a long-standing claim by a road accident victim.
According to sources within the offices, the February 13 action was not the first time the sheriff attached equipment on behalf of a Durban-based law firm. They said that last month, the attached chairs and a few other office stuff.
“The sheriff came back today (yesterday, Thursday), went straight to the finance department and attached critical computers. Right now (yesterday) the staff is sitting doing nothing and it looks like even tomorrow (Friday) there won’t be any work done.
“We believe that the law firm is owed a lot of money as it keeps on coming back to attach more goods from our offices,” a source told African Times.
The Head of Corporate Communications at the RAF, McIntosh Polela, confirmed that the sheriff indeed visited their offices and attached equipment.
However, he insisted that the attached assets had nothing to do with RAF’s failure to settle payments. Polela said the sheriff’s action was based on matters that were not payable because of outstanding documents.
“The sheriff continues to deliberately frustrate the RAF and its business activities by removing its
tools of trade without following court rules. This brings the daily activities of the RAF to a halt to
the prejudice of claimants.
“The Fund is of the view that such acts are intimidation tactics which seek to compel the RAF to pay claims without complying with the legislative provisions like the RAF Act and the Public Management Finance Act,” Polela said.
Polela added that the RAF is considering its legal options, including reporting the sheriff’s conduct to the sheriff’s board.
“The Fund (RAF) remains committed to settling all qualifying claims and continues to appeal to claimants to make sure that all the documents have been submitted so that they can be duly compensated.”
