By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Plagued by false claims, the Motor vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund over the weekend held its annual Fraud Campaign wherein members of the public were alerted on the risks of engaging in fraudulent activities.
The MVA Fund is a statutory body established shortly after independence by an Act of Parliament to compensate certain victims of motor vehicle accidents or the dependants of those who succumb in road accidents.
However, it was observed through the years that the system has loopholes and has become vulnerable to thieving minds.
MVA Fund Public Relations Officer Suzette Apollus told New Era that the operations of the fund indemnify drivers against claims by victims who suffer loss as a result of bad driving. This means accident victims no longer have a claim against the driver, but against the Fund which accepts liability on behalf of the guilty driver.
However, this fault-based system is plagued by many problems where the Fund operates as a legal and legalistic entity. This means road accident victims only have claims if they can prove that their loss was caused by the bad driving of another person.
In addition, the Fund does not pay benefits, but damages and thus the system is cash based and that attracts substantial deviant and fraudulent practices.
“It is a well-known fact that wherever there is money involved, fraud and corruption are inevitable. Thus, fraud and corruption are inherent to the business of the MVA Fund. To help the Fund attain its goal of zero tolerance of fraud and corruption, the Fund has to work hand in hand with the public to combat this,” said Apollus.
MVA Fraud statistics reveal 30 criminal court cases, six arrests, one conviction, 21 cases under investigation, a dismissal of one staff member, one staff member resigning before being charged with fraud, while two temporary employees left the Fund pending fraud charges against them from prior places of employment.
“The main objective of the campaign is to proactively take steps that will minimize the impact of fraud and corruption in an effort to advance the country’s fight against fraud and corruption,” she said.
The awareness campaign was held under the theme, “Fraud and Corruption Will Cripple the Fund, Report it 0800666666”.
“The theme alerts the general public and staff about the risks of fraud and corruption perpetuated against the Fund. It further urges employees and the general public to report such observed or known incidents of fraud and corruption at the given number,” said Apollus.
The Fund envisages moving away from a fault-based system and to be able to assist each and every motor vehicle accident victim as fairly and as reasonably possible regardless of who was at fault.
Legislative reform is in the process regarding transformation to a satisfactory system.
The new Bill will transform the current system into a ‘no fault’ compensatory system, which will cater for every motor vehicle accident victim.
Under the new system, benefits will be provided by way of access to support services, rather than by way of lump sum cash payments.
The Bill aims to benefit all accident victims of road accidents, who go away with a fault stigma. It also proposes to apportion benefits to accident victims who contributed to the accident. This means that passengers and drivers who happen to disrespect traffic laws will not enjoy full benefits from the MVA Fund.
According to Apollus, “The combating of fraud and corruption is the responsibility of each and every one of us, and thus, the Fund is urging the Namibian nation to report fraud and corruption because corruption can cripple not only the Fund but can destroy the whole nation.”