RAF calls court ruling on its new rules for foreigners 'bizarre'

JOHANNESBURG - The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has labelled as "bizarre" a High Court ruling handed down this week which set aside new rules which require foreign claimants to prove they were in the country legally at the time of their accidents.
 
A full bench of the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday found there was nothing in the relevant legislation to indicate that foreigners who were not in the country legally were excluded from claiming from the fund.

It also found that the RAF and the minister of transport had acted outside of their powers when they introduced these new rules.
 
The fund’s McIntosh Polela: "We find it bizarre, in fact, as much as we respect the judges, that they came to this conclusion because it is our duty to adhere to all directives of the Immigration Act. For instance, section 42 of the Immigration Act requires anyone dealing with an immigrant to determine the status of such a person in the country and report such a status to Home Affairs. But further to that, as far as we’re concerned, anyone who pays money to an illegal immigrant is aiding and abetting illegality."
 
Against this backdrop, Polela said they did plan on filing an appeal bid.
 
"As the RAF, it is very important for us to appeal and to change the status that was created by the judgment."