Proposed new laws that aim to speed up benefits for the victims of road accidents will be published by Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele on Friday.

"The proposals are a great step forward in enabling government to provide immediate access to benefits to all victims of road crashes, and in addressing the inequities in the current system," Ndebele said in a statement on Thursday.

"We cannot afford to continue funding the current scheme, which is a waste of scarce resources and which appears to benefit intermediaries rather than the intended beneficiaries."

The laws propose that the victims of road accidents no longer have to prove fault on the part of another driver before receiving access to medical treatment.

The requirement of proving fault is integral to the current Road Accident Fund (RAF), as it was with its predecessor motor vehicle insurance systems since 1942.

In a number of jurisdictions worldwide, the requirement of fault has been done away with, with "huge" savings in administrative costs, which can be channelled into health care and loss of income or support.

The ministry said that moving to a no-fault system would enable it to end "long delays inherent in a litigious, dispute-ridden system" and would also relieve enormous pressure on court-rolls currently over-burdened with tens of thousands of pending RAF cases.

The present lump-sum award system also encourages the perverse incentive for a claimant to present his or her injury as long-lasting.

The emphasis in the no-fault approach will be on ongoing case management "with a focus on rehabilitation".

The draft policy proposes that the current RAF be replaced by the Road Accident Benefit Scheme Administrator, and that the current adversarial system be replaced with a scheme based on the principles of social security and solidarity.

Cabinet approved the draft policy for publication in October 2009.

Members of the public have 60 days to provide input on the proposals.