Businesses, employees criticize UIF payment process

Many South Africans have taken to social media to express their outrage over the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) payment process.

People say after years of contributing to the UIF, they were paid only a few rands as the country finished the sixth week of the COVID-19 enforced national lockdown.

Many business owners as well as their employees feel that the UIF has left them in the lurch, as they are in a financial crisis.

Others are frustrated after their claims were rejected and have lamented the slow pace at which payments are being processed.

A Johannesburg business owners say he and his employees are in a tight spot.

He says, “I have 8 employees that I have been paying UIF for 8 years and I received a whopping 70 cents. One of my employees received R3 719 and the other employees were rejected. By at least Monday next week, if I have no payments – I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of this month, I am going to have to issue out notices to all my staff to say they need to prepare, they are going to get retrenched until further notice.”

However, the UIF is adamant that it is making payments within 48-hours, in cases which employers are submitting relevant documentation.

UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping says, “People who applied yesterday – we are paying them today and people who applied with their files that is now 48 hours ago, we are also paying them today. So there is no backlog as far as UIF is concerned. We have automated most of our processes and we are paying as and when we receive applications…”

“Today alone we are paying R1.5 billion to all the people that have applied so I can not say there is a backlog at this stage,” added Maruping.

EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITY ON BACK TO WORK READINESS FOR COVID-19 LEVEL 4 (1/4) #StayHome

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— Minister Thulas Nxesi (@NxesiThulas) May 3, 2020