19 Aug 2018

The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF) is considering to introduce roadside rescue centres in order to improve the response time to accidents.

That was revealed by the chief executive officer of MVAF, Mr Michael Tlhagwane when responding to comments and questions during a stakeholders’ engagement session on the challenges, experiences and development of the fund in Francistown recently.

Mr Tlhagwane also explained that the fund was in the process of developing a road safety education series that would be aired on Botswana Television.

He said the programme was intended to educate the public on various road risk factors that contributed to escalating of road crashes and associated injuries and death.

He said the 13 episode programme was anticipated to start airing during the fourth quarter of 2018 and different stakeholders would take part in providing the necessary content relating to each topic.

Mr Tlhagwane explained that the disastrous effects that road accidents had on the country’s economy was another major challenge.

He explained that the fund spent around P180 million in claims on an annual basis with the bulk being medical expenses.

He said Botswana should prioritise road safety as a matter of urgency with the safe principle in order to become one of the leading countries in road safety.

Regarding the statistics, Mr Tlhagwane explained that the number of claims received by the fund declined by three per cent from 3 019 recorded in 2016 to 2 934 in 2017.

He attributed the decline to the corresponding improvement in road safety performance during the same period.

He said the recorded crashes declined from 18 373 in 2016 to 17 786 in 2017, while total recorded fatalities dropped by 1.3 per cent from 450 to 444 and total injuries declined by 5.5 per cent from 6 237 to 5 981 compared to the same period in 2016.

The CEO said the trend indicated that there was a direct relationship between road safety performance and claims lodged.

On other issues, he said the fund had a zero tolerance to fraud which could either be perpetrated by employees or the public.

“We have therefore implemented an independent fraud and ethics whistle-blower hotline administered by Deloitte Anonymous Tip-Offs,” he said, adding the whistle blowing hotline was meant to act both as a deterrent against fraud and to improve detection of wrongful acts by employees and the public.

Mr Tlhagwane informed stakeholders that the MVA Fund had launched the fourth strategic plan, known as Kgogamasigo 2018-2022 which provides a clear, long term vision of what the fund wants to achieve and how the milestones would be achieved.

Mr Tlhagwane said the mandate of the fund was to compensate victims of road crashes and to assist all eligible claimants 100 per cent compensation and reduce fatalities and injuries through road safety and prevention.

He said the Fund had service level agreements with private emergency medical services and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to evacuate people injured in road traffic accidents from the scene of accidents to the most appropriate health facilities.

In this regard, Mr Tlhagwane explained that the Fund now receives names of the deceased and their next of kin (including telephone numbers) from the Botswana Police Service to assist to follow up and encourage the next of kin to submit funeral and loss of support claims.

In his welcome remarks, MVA Fund Francistown Branch Manager Mr Kite Nkala had said road traffic accidents required a multi-disciplinary approach because they do not only impact on individuals and their families but also to the economy of the country. ENDS