‘Road accident benefit scheme bill’ just another form of Expropriation WC

Opinion by FF Plus

‘Road accident benefit scheme bill’ just another form of Expropriation WC
'Road accident benefit scheme bill' just another form of Expropriation WC

On 3 December 2018, the Second Reading Debate on the Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill follows on another “fatal accident” that took place in Parliament today: the debate on expropriation without compensation.

The Bill is the first piece of legislation that will in effect implement expropriation without compensation in line with the ANC’s National Democratic Revolution, which is aimed at transforming South Africa into a communist state where the government has all the power.

It is ironic that instead of playing an important role in offering benefits to road accident victims and their next of kin, the government not only failed to do so, but it also caused the current Road Accident Fund (RAF) to derail due to corruption.

Now the government wants to try and fix its mistakes by replacing the RAF with the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS) which will expropriate victims of their rights in the following ways:

• Firstly, the Scheme deprives people of their common law rights to lay a claim against the guilty party in an accident. It thus offers reckless drivers a free pass.

• Secondly, it irrationally affords those who drive recklessly on our roads, like drunken drivers, certain rights in accordance with the so-called “no fault” principle, which means that they will be able to claim for an accident that they caused. It thus deprives other road users of their right to a safe environment on our roads.

• Thirdly, it deprives people who fall in a higher income group of the opportunity to benefit from the Scheme as at present, they can still claim from the RAF.

• Fourthly, it deprives people of their right to choose what medical treatment they receive as the Scheme will make use of a state controlled process to determine what medical treatment the victim may receive. If the Scheme only approves medical treatment provided by the public health care system, claimants will become the victims of the terrible medical services currently provided by South Africa’s public hospitals and clinics.

• Fifthly, lifelong medical care is expropriated. The Scheme excludes people older than 60 years. That is how the ANC treats our country’s senior citizens.

• Lastly, the right to legal representation is expropriated as claimants will be at the mercy of the Scheme’s function and power as legal representative, decision maker and administrator, this is clearly a conflict of interests.

Another fundamental problem with the Bill is the funding of the Scheme which was never properly discussed by the committee and thus there is a lot of confusion regarding the costs.

The Bill’s definition of the average annual national income does not correspond with the memorandum’s cost calculations. Furthermore, the fact that two schemes, namely the existing RAF and the new Scheme, must be funded by means of fuel levies is obfuscated in the memorandum with vague wording.

Motorists need to realise that fuel levies will increase significantly as a lot of money will be needed to fund both schemes. It will take at least two generations to phase out the RAF. That means that fuel prices will keep rising. This is just another form of expropriation.

Clearly, the ANC cannot be trusted with governing our country. This Bill surely is a cause for concern for all road users and, therefore, it will be opposed in court.

Read the original article in Afrikaans by Adv Anton Alberts on FF Plus

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SOURCEFF Plus