What happens if the RAF rejects my claim?

A letter arrives from the Fund. Somewhere in it is a sentence that reads like the end of the road, and the claimant either gives up or phones an attorney in a panic.

The letter is almost never what it looks like. Before anything else, work out which of three things it actually is.

Three things called a rejection

An objection to validity. This is a procedural objection, and it is confined to a window. Section 24(5) of the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 provides that if the Fund does not object to the validity of a claim within 60 days of lodgement, the claim is deemed valid in law in all respects. An objection within that window says the claim form is defective in some way: unsigned, incomplete, the wrong form, missing a required document.

A repudiation. This is the Fund saying it denies liability: the collision did not happen as described, there was no negligence, you were the sole cause, the vehicle was not a motor vehicle as defined, or the claim has prescribed. A repudiation is about the merits, not the paperwork, and it can come at any stage.

Silence. The Fund does nothing. No objection, no repudiation, no offer. This is the most common of the three, and it is not a rejection at all, although it is treated as one by claimants who wait.

Each has a different consequence and a different answer.

If it is an objection to validity

Read what is actually being objected to. The Fund must object in writing, within 60 days of the claim being sent by registered post or delivered by hand, and the objection must be brought to your attention. An objection outside that window, or one never communicated, does not prevent the deeming.

Then fix it. A validity objection about a missing document is answered by supplying the document. A procedural defect that can be cured should be cured promptly and the corrected claim re-lodged, keeping proof of the date.

Two cautions.

The deeming is procedural only. A claim deemed valid under section 24(5) is valid as to form. It is not deemed to be within time, and it is not deemed to be good on the merits. Prescription is a matter of substance and the deeming does not touch it.

Re-lodging does not reset prescription. Whatever you do about the form, the underlying dates keep running. Our guide on how to claim from the Road Accident Fund sets out the lodgement deadlines, and the prescription checker works through the periods generally.

If it is a repudiation

A repudiation is the Fund's opening position on the merits, and its main procedural effect is to shorten the wait.

Ordinarily, no summons may be served on the Fund until 120 days have passed since the claim was lodged. But if the Fund repudiates liability in writing before that period expires, summons may be served at any time after the repudiation. A written repudiation therefore opens the courtroom door immediately.

Practically:

Get the repudiation in writing, and keep it. A verbal indication from a claims handler is not a repudiation for these purposes.

Read the ground. A repudiation on prescription is a different case from one on negligence, and the answer to each is different evidence.

Do not argue with the Fund by correspondence for months. The Fund is entitled to change its position, and repudiations are often reversed once the matter is set down, but the way to force the question is a summons, not a fourth letter.

Check the five-year date before anything else. See below. A repudiation received in year four leaves you limited time.

If it is silence

The Fund neither objects nor repudiates nor offers. Months pass.

After 120 days from lodgement, silence stops mattering, because summons may be served. The Fund has had its statutory period to consider the claim. You do not need permission, a rejection or a further letter.

Claimants lose years here, waiting for a response that the Act does not require the Fund to give. Our guide on how long a RAF claim takes sets out the realistic timeline and what actually moves a stalled file, and the answer is rarely another email.

The deadline that runs regardless

Everything above sits under one date.

For a claim where the driver or owner is identified, the claim must be lodged within three years of the cause of action arising, and a summons must be served within five years of that date. Lodgement stops the three-year clock. It does not stop the five-year one.

So a claimant who lodged on time, received an objection, fixed it, received a repudiation, corresponded for two years and then instructed an attorney in year five has done everything except the one thing that mattered. The five years runs from the collision, through every letter, and it is not interrupted by anything the Fund does.

The unidentified-vehicle claim has different and shorter periods, which our guide on pedestrian claims and hit-and-run sets out.

Diarise the five-year date on the day you lodge, and work backwards from it. Summons takes time to draft and to serve, and the sheriff does not work to your deadline.

If it is an offer

Occasionally the letter is the opposite of a rejection, and it deserves a paragraph because claimants sometimes treat it as one.

An offer of settlement, or a concession on the merits with quantum to be agreed, is the Fund accepting that it is liable. What remains is how much. Two cautions.

Do not accept a figure before the injuries have stabilised. An offer made while you are still in treatment is priced on incomplete information, and once accepted in full and final settlement it cannot be reopened when the second operation becomes necessary.

Separate the merits from the quantum. The Fund may concede liability while contesting the amount, or offer a percentage on the merits where it says you were partly at fault. Each of those is a different negotiation, and our guide on contributory negligence explains the apportionment argument.

The other rejection: serious injury

A separate letter, frequently confused with the above.

Where the Fund rejects your RAF 4 serious injury assessment, it is not rejecting your claim. It is saying your injury does not meet the threshold for general damages. Your medical expenses and loss of earnings are unaffected.

That rejection has its own route: notice to the registrar of the HPCSA within 90 days, and an appeal tribunal. A court cannot decide it for you. Our guide on the RAF 4 assessment sets out that process in full, and it runs in parallel with the main claim rather than instead of it.

What to do with the letter this week

Identify which of the three it is. Objection, repudiation or something else. If it is an offer, that is a fourth category and a different conversation about quantum, which our guide on how much a RAF claim is worth addresses.

Check the dates. When was the claim lodged, when did the letter arrive, how many of the 60 or 120 days had passed, and when is the five-year date.

Answer a validity objection immediately with the corrected document, and keep proof of delivery.

Treat a repudiation as a starting gun, not a verdict.

Get an attorney if you do not have one. Summons is not a self-help step in practice. Our guide on no win no fee explains how RAF attorneys are typically paid and the statutory limits on it, and Legal Aid South Africa is on 0800 110 110 with our free legal help page setting out the alternatives.

Keep the record. The lodgement proof, the registered post slip, every letter with its date. In RAF litigation the dates are frequently the whole case.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. A woman is injured as a passenger in January 2024 and lodges her claim by registered post in September 2025, inside the three years.

In October 2025, thirty days later, the Fund writes objecting that the claim form is unsigned and a hospital record is missing. That is a validity objection, within 60 days. She supplies the signed form and the record within a week and re-lodges, keeping the registered post slip.

Nothing further is heard. In February 2026, 120 days having passed since lodgement, summons may be served. Her attorney serves it in March 2026.

In April 2026 the Fund pleads, denying negligence on the part of the insured driver. That is a repudiation on the merits, and the matter proceeds to trial on that issue. Separately the Fund rejects her RAF 4 assessment, and her attorney notifies the HPCSA within 90 days.

Her five-year date is January 2029. Summons was served in March 2026. Nothing that happens in the litigation can now prescribe the claim.

Now the version that fails. Same facts, but after the October 2025 objection she spends fourteen months corresponding with the Fund about the missing record, receives no acknowledgement, assumes the claim is being considered, and only instructs an attorney in late 2028. The attorney serves summons in February 2029. Five years from January 2024 expired the month before. The objection was answerable in a week, and the claim died of the waiting.