If it were not for a fuel levy added to every litre of petrol that goes to the Road Accident Fund, currently under investigation for governance failures, petrol would cost South Africans R18.57 per litre.
The admittedly dysfunctional Road Accident Fund (RAF) collected R50.1 billion from South Africans paying the RAF levy on petrol and diesel in the 2024/2025 financial year alone.
This was a year-on-year increase from R48.6 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.
South Africans have been paying a R2.18 RAF levy on every litre of petrol or diesel for the last three years.
As of 7 January, the wholesale price of unleaded 95 petrol is R20.75 per litre inland and R19.92 on the coast.
Unleaded 93 is R20.64 per litre inland and R19.85 on the coast. The wholesale price of diesel is R18.52 per litre inland and R17.76 on the coast.
This means that, without contributing to the RAF, and before the mark-up added by sellers, 95 unleaded petrol would cost R18.57 per litre inland and R17.74 on the coast.
Unleaded 93 petrol would cost R18.46 per litre inland and R17.67 on the coast. Diesel would cost R16,34 per litre inland and R15,56 on the coast.
The R2.18 amount has been steadily increasing over the last twenty years, but has remained unchanged since 2021.
Despite this, the RAF said in its most recent annual report that the current fuel levy, which is determined by the National Treasury, is not feasible for the sustained settlement of claims or ensuring the fund’s long-term sustainability.
The RAF paid out R42.6 billion in claims in the financial year ended in March 2025, and had R10.4 billion in unpaid claims for the year.
From 2022 to 2025, the RAF has raised R195 billion in fuel levies, and R185 billion has been paid out in claims.
These benefits can include compensation for medical expenses, loss of income, funeral costs, general damages, and future medical and rehabilitation expenses.
According to an analysis by BusinessTech, contributions to the RAF have increased by 1400% for petrol users and 2016% for diesel users since January 2000.
Parliament probing rot in RAF
Source: Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
While the fund is seen as a critical intervention to assist those impacted by accidents on South Africa’s roads, the RAF has been hampered with inefficiencies.
The entity received an adverse audit opinion for the 2024/2025 financial year. This was due mainly to the RAF using an accounting standard that “fundementally differs from the prescribed GRAP standard,” according to the Auditor general.
This resulted in an understatement of the Fund’s liabilities and expenditure. The entity further failed to record irregular expenditure due to inadequate systems to detect and disclose it.
Currently, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), is busy probing the state-insurance entity and its governance failures.
The inquiry has uncovered far-reaching governance failures at the RAF. “Dysfunction is the right way to describe it,” said SCOPA chair Sengezo Zibi.
The RAF board recently placed its acting CEO, CFO, Chief Governance Officer and the Head of the CEO’s office on precautionary suspension.
One of the most alarming revelations, Zibi noted, is that the major change to the fund’s accounting policy, affecting 500,000 claimants, was implemented without any recorded executive meeting or board approval.
Suppliers were consulted and preparations were made before the RAF’s own governance structures had even discussed the decision.
SCOPA also heard that the RAF outsourced nearly R1 billion in procurement to two external companies, each awarded contracts worth R500 million, without examining invoices or questioning the spending.
This lack of oversight allowed suppliers to procure from relatives and friends at allegedly inflated prices.
On top of this, the RAF spent more than R100 million on disciplinary cases over the past five years, routinely using external lawyers and chairpersons who billed hourly rates.
Many employees remained on suspension for up to four years without being charged, while acting staff filled their posts, effectively doubling salary costs.
The committee also heard that the RAF’s decision to dismiss its panel of attorneys resulted in thousands of unattended court cases.
Current attorneys are each handling up to 5,000 matters, forcing them to appear in multiple courts simultaneously.
When they cannot, the RAF either pays full costs for postponements or suffers inflated default judgments, adding billions to its liabilities.
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