An agenda setting analysis : the application of Kingdon's framework to the Road Accident Fund (RAF).

Abstract

This study aimed at exploring the agenda setting process of the Road Accident

Fund (RAF), a road accident compensation system operating in South Africa

using Kingdon's model of Agenda Setting. This study focused on the period

between 1996 when the RAF was introduced to 2005 when the focus in the Fund

was put mainly on how to deal with fraud and corruption issues. When the RAF

was put into place, the main aim was to establish a compensation system that

will be able to deal with the effects of road accidents that the people suffer.

These are mostly the vulnerable road users and public transport passengers who

account for most of the road casualties. However there has been a shift in the

focus of the Road Accident Fund Act of 1996, hence the majority of the people

who were meant to be beneficiaries ended up not benefiting from the Fund due

to corruption. A theoretical framework based on the work of John Kingdon (1995)

is used to explore the developments in the RAF that led to the Road Accident

Benefit Scheme (RABS) as a proposed system.

Qualitative research method was used in order to trace the unfolding of the

events and action of participants in the RAF in order to see whether the

developments in the Fund can be explained using Kingdon's framework of

agenda setting. Historical documents were used to collect data and to trace the

chronology of events. These include formal records, including Annual Reports on

the RAF and media articles, including newspapers. Content analysis method was

done on material such as: Annual Reports on the Road Accident Fund, Meeting

Minutes, Parliamentary Proceedings, Newspaper Articles and Speeches,

primarily from the Department of Transport in order to analyse data.

The findings of this study revealed that using Kingdon's theory of agenda setting,

it is possible to come to a better understanding of the agenda setting process

that led to a current state of the RAF. In the RAF case study, the three policy streams proposed by Kingdon namely: problem stream, policy stream and

political stream, were identified. In the problem stream, the financial 'crisis'

together with feedback from the formal as well as the media reports that

indicated that the financial condition of the RAF was getting worse served as an

indication that there was a problem in the Fund. Several ideas were generated in

the policy stream of the Fund. Amongst other things, studies, discussions,

hearings, meetings and conferences conducted by the RAF Commission for the

purpose of investigating the Fund and come up with alternative solutions, created

pressure for policy change. While RABS which incorporated in it a "no fault"

system of compensation was proposed as a solution by the RAF Commission,

liquidation of the Fund was also a concern. In the political stream, the national

mood, change of administration and interest group pressure were evident and

contributed to the agenda setting of the RAF. Media reports also contributed to

the whole agenda setting process of the Fund.

The implications of the analysis for future processes are drawn.