13 Jul 2023

The two separate accidents that occurred along the Francistown-Maun highway beginning this year were caused by speeding.

Speaking at a one-day workshop on worker’s compensation and group life cover insurance, Branch Manager for Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund in Francistown, Mr Kite Nkala, said police investigations have revealed that the two accidents occurred because of speeding-related causes.

Mr Nkala said the stretch of the road where the two accidents occurred was full of potholes.

“After the potholes were patched, motorists started to increase speeding, hence such fatal accidents,” he said.

He advised that the only solution to fatal accidents was to adopt a mindset change on the roads.

This mindset change, he said, included obeying road traffic signs and lights, wearing seat belts and being aware of animals on the road.

Mr Nkala said road traffic crashes had a negative impact on the economy as they kill productive personnel.

He explained that it took a minimum of 10 days for a claim to be processed before an offer was made by the Fund. The offer included how much MVA Fund would pay for the compensation.

He said MVA worked hand in hand with the police to know the number of people who lost their lives in an accident and immediately start to prepare their claims.

Mr Nkala said that the Fund also conducted hospital visits for those who had suffered injuries to determine what compensation to offer. However, he stressed that people should lodge their complaints within three months.

He informed participants from various government departments and parastatals that foreigners on transit were not covered by the Fund once they got outside the country.

He however said a foreigner with a residence and work permits were treated just as Batswana until the date of their documents expired.

Mr Nkala said one of the challenges facing the Fund was that of fraud.

He cited an incident in which one person defrauded the Fund more than four times before getting arrested.

Speaking at the same event, Francistown based Injury Prevention Officer, Mr Abram Ntshiping, said the Fund did not cover accidents that did not involve motor vehicles, citing an accident in which a donkey cart collides with bicycle.

Mr Ntshiping also encouraged organisations to insure their employees, citing that this would protect employees from suffering financial losses when involved in an accident.

For their part, participants complained about over speeding by trucks along the A3 highway.

They called on government to start road safety subjects and clubs at schools to teach them young about road safety measures.

The objective of the workshop was to meet corporates and educate them about the products and services for a full understanding of the fund’s function and operations.

The workshop was also meant to give a background on Funds’ perspectives and to solicit feedback from stakeholders with regards to compensation claims.

The other objective, Mr Nkala said, was to appreciate the challenges, successes and opportunities offered by MVA Fund and its stakeholders and map the way forward for improved working relations as well as to improve service delivery and turnaround times. ENDS