The South African Special Risk Insurance Association (Sasria) has once again assured claimants that it has sufficient reserves, including through its reinsurers, to meet all valid claims arising from the unrest that rocked KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July.
In a statement issued jointly with National Treasury, Sasria said it remained liquid and continued to trade as usual.
The statement reiterated what Moonstone Monitor has previously reported: that Sasria will need additional financial support from Treasury apart from the R3.9 billion that it will receive as part of the recently tabled Special Appropriation Bill. This will help Sasria to meet its obligations to the end of the current financial year, on 31 March 2022.
The “final” additional support will depend on how swiftly Sasria can finalise the total claim amounts, according to Sasria. It is expected that the additional support will be included in the 2022 Budget.
Sasria’s managing director, Cedric Masondo, said: “Our discussions with National Treasury are in line with the desired determination of the best medium that can inject capital, as we look at how to be future-proof ready and acknowledge the lessons learnt during the unfortunate unrest in July.”
In an update on claims settlement, Sasria said:
- It has paid out claims of more than R5.8bn. Sasria has previously estimated that total claims could be about R25bn.
- It has reached an agreement with its industry partners that damaged properties will be rebuilt, instead of making cash-in-lieu payments. “Collaborative work with loss adjusters and the industry will be done to ensure that the buildings are rebuilt.”
- Almost 100% of claims notifications have been received and were in the process of loss adjustment.
- Priority would be given to settling claims below R1 million.
- It wanted to settle 80% of all claims between R1m and R30m by the end of October.
- It has started paying interim payments, as proposed by loss adjusters, on all claims above R30m. “We are determined to make sure that at least 30% of total claim value for big claims is paid in the next couple of weeks.”
Sasria said it has increased its resources to reduce delays in the processing of claim payments. “We are confident that, in two weeks, we would have attended to all outstanding reports and made necessary payments.”
