Good news for road crash survivors

The Motor Vehicle Accident Funds of Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa recently held a multilateral meeting in the capital to discuss issues of common concern experienced by clients such as reciprocal claims handling.
One of the outcomes and resolutions reached at the meeting was that citizens from either countries involved in road crashes in Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland or Botswana will no longer have to endure the cumbersome process of lodging claims with the respective MVA funds in these countries.
The sister funds have realised the difficulties experienced by the citizens of these countries in lodging claims after being involved in road crashes outside their national borders. This has necessitated the urgent need to strengthen co-ordination so as to ease the burden of road crash survivors when submitting claims in foreign countries.
The funds resolved to implement the agreement on reciprocal claims handling which will allow road crash survivors to lodge claims with ease through their home fund and without having to travel long distances to the country where the road crash occurred.
Road users are entitled to claim for any loss, injuries or funeral benefits after a road crash in either of these countries. They can approach the home fund with the relevant documents and information about the crash and that fund will receive and forward such claim to the relevant sister fund for assessment and settlement.
Other resolutions made at the meeting included developing and strengthening strategic linkages among the parties, to cooperate in human resource utilisation and capacity building, including but not limited to training and exchange programmes as well as to facilitate the free flow of business information among the parties so as to improve service delivery and strengthen capacity in corporate governance.
The meeting was attended by the chief executive officers and executive management representing the four regional funds.