RAND MUTUAL ASSURANCE: A Policy of Care and Compassion

With 128 years of know-how, experience and calibre to draw on, RMA expertly undertakes the administration of claims for occupational injuries and diseases according to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), with principal focuses on the mining and metals sector.

Identifying a need to help care for miners who were injured while on duty, RMA was founded in 1894 by three mining companies on the Witwatersrand as a non-profit mutual assurance company, and to this day remains a mutual association whereby policy holders are also shareholders.

At its heart and at every level of the organisation is a policy of care, compassion in the pursuit of the right compensation, RMA states. “No matter what a day may bring, RMA is our client’s constant source of warmth, compassion and care when life hands them challenges that seem too hard to face alone. We go the extra mile to ensure that beneficiaries and their families receive the care and compensation they are entitled to when they have sustained either a work-related injury or occupational disease.

“Whether clients are injured on duty, ill or pass away and leave family behind, we are here to make life stress-free with a range of policies.”

ADMINISTRATOR OF CHOICE

This exhaustive array of products constitutes an unparalleled helping hand to see employees through times of difficulty, whether injured or ill on duty. “With the complete range of occupational insurance products, we can offer you a bespoke group cover policy to meet your company’s needs,” RMA explains. Crime and injury are covered against when commuting, as are group personal accident and injury at work or work-related events.

International COID ensures employees who work outside South Africa can still enjoy workers cover for occupational disability or diseases, and in the worst imaginable circumstances affordable group funeral plans are offered to companies for the benefit of their employees and provide a lump-sum payment to cover costs related to a funeral.

Funeral cover assistance services have been a central focus for RMA in its recent raft of developments, ensuring that professional guidance is but a telephone call away in a bid to swiftly respond in times of distress and upheaval. For a small additional cost to an existing funeral cover premium support is afforded, not only in times of grief, but also for emergencies that may be related to health, travel, law, education, and recoveries and comprises the likes of a 24-hour nurse line, telephonic trauma counselling and repatriation of mortal remains.

Kyansambo Vundla, group CFO, pinpoints the value-added products as where the growth some of the most lucrative opportunities for growth exist, particularly within life assurance offerings. “We’ve identified the strategy to ‘build a business of significance’,” she expands. “With a legacy of 128 years behind us, I think we have a trusted brand in the industry, and with a new executive committee to take us forward, it’s an exciting time,” she said last year.

RMA employs every tool at its disposal in effectively and easily maintaining its policies and allowing business to continue with minimal interruption, underpinned by an integrated, high-powered IT system for the administration, adjudication and processing of compensation claims. “RMA’s high level of service and quick claims turnaround is underpinned by a market-leading integrated claims management IT system that allows for paperless adjudication of claims,” it delineates.

“We are the administrator of choice for occupational injuries and diseases for Class IV (Mining), Class XIII (Iron, Steel and Metal) and related industries. Through our CompCare system, we offer enhanced efficiencies for the administration of compensation claims.”

HELPING HANDS TO BOOST SA

RMA has built up an expansive footprint and one of its top priorities has been to become easily accessible to all clients, claimants and other stakeholders, through its head office in Johannesburg and via its many regional walk-in branches in Carletonville, Cape Town, Durban, eMalahleni, Johannesburg, Klerksdorp, Pretoria, Rustenburg and Welkom.

“RMA lives by its caring and compassionate way,” it sums up. “We see it as a privilege to help communities further their skills; we enjoy seeing people being educated, reaching for their dreams and achieving their goals. We live to see the joy on people’s faces when they’re empowered and improve their standard of living.

“Lending a helping hand is what warms our hearts.”

RMA has recently revealed its largest commitment to responsible investing to date, involving a R125 million contribution to the SummerPlace fund over a period of 10 years. SummerPlace Equity Partners is a black female-owned fund manager, investing in medium-sized businesses valued up to R200 million.

“RMA’s Social Impact Strategy is designed to promote economic growth, uplift marginalised communities, and alleviate poverty in South Africa,” the company condenses. “It serves as a definitive plan with measurable outcomes and clear social impact. Responsible investing allows RMA to collaborate with a range of medium-sized businesses in various industries that exhibit major growth.”

Of the five pillars which make up the totality of the strategy, also numbering financial education and inclusion, innovative skills development, and diversity and inclusion, the entrepreneurship aspect has also grabbed headlines of late as RMA looks to support businesses through either enterprise or supplier development during their formative years, enabling them to scale, create more jobs and subsequently boost the local economy.

“Helping entrepreneurs across South Africa will help lead to significant socio-economic growth,” it posits, having pledged more than R58 million in funding to the cause through an enterprise development programme which, over a three-year period, sees RMA cover a large portion of the beneficiaries’ operating and capital expenses. Beneficiaries participate in entrepreneurship programmes and training to eventually become fully independent in terms of operations and finances.

“RMA is on a mission to improve the success rates of enterprises by encouraging strategic entrepreneurship and innovation that uplifts their surrounding communities. The support we provide to SMEs in our supply chain enables them to create more jobs, achieve higher revenues and reach sustainable operating levels that are independent of our support. RMA provides support in the form of salaries, office rental, IT equipment, furniture, travel, and other office operating costs.”

RMA has a long history of going the extra mile in its bid to be the leading insurance provider and administrator of employment injury- and health-related benefits. Already administering more than one million lives, it is able to have an impact more broad and more significant than ever in its lifetime through these quality, cost-effective and compassionate insurance services of the highest standard.

“RMA is the warm African sunrise that welcomes warmth, comfort and care to the lives we touch,” the company concludes. “Just like parents who care for their children, the brand promise of RMA is to be caring and compassionate so that clients can go through life’s challenges a little bit easier.”