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More notes on the appearance before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee by the CEO of the RAF, Mr Modise, to present their annual report: The Department of Transport said via Marius Luyt it was dealing with some “curve balls” following the fiasco with the Promulgation. He said the Department of Transport had finalized the regulations in “June / July” already and the only problem was the common law issue. He later said they were ready in March but at that stage the Minister of Transport was also acting as Minister of Health and that was a problem. The legal advisers advised that the Act had not come into operation. The Dept of Health and Transport had met last week over the regulations and as soon as they gave the OK they would technically be in a position to put in place the regulations.
Another lady spokesperson then explained that in July last year President Mbeki enacted in what Jeremy Cronin called “a blunder” the incorrect Sections of the Act because those sections required regulations before they were proclaimed. They then issued another proclamation amending that. Attorney Marius Kruger brought a challenge in this regard which challenged the validity of the first proclamation, saying the president did not have the power to amend a proclamation he had already issued, which has been referred to the Constitutional Court. The Court held that the first proclamation was null and void and thus the 2nd amendment fell away also. This now has to be referred to the Constitutional Court and will be heard on 19 February 2008. If you do not have an Act in operation you cannot publish regulations so they need the Act to come into place first.
Jeremy Cronin asked the Department to find some technical way to make the court process “irrelevant” and that they would get cross party support for any suggestion they could come up with. The Department of Transport lady, who said she was involved in litigation and not legislation, said the Committee must respect the Constitutional Court and that she could not think of a way around it, unless they revoke or repeal the Amendment Act and then come back with a new Act. Jeremy Cronin again appealed to them, as soon as next week, to try and find a way around this, without “undermining” the Constitution.
Stuart Farrow suggested surely the Fund’s computer systems would allow them to notify claimant’s as to amounts paid.
Modise said they were changing their systems to make it easier for people to claim from the Fund and they would also change their staff. A lot of communication with clients could be automated, including the assessments of merits. He said the law of delict is a system of rules that can easily be automated. He said that new computer program would allow them to access and communicate with all hospitals and claimants and he emphasized that the RAF “will” pay the claimants directly. He said attorneys were coming with stories of denying access to justice for poor people etc. He said the RAF had no idea what happened to the interest earned on the payments to attorneys. He said they were busy rolling out the IT system and again emphasized there was a lot of resistance from attorneys.
Click this link to hear the entire audio yourself Audio recording of meeting
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