Minister of Labour and Employment, Thulas Nxesi says some companies are not complying with the lockdown legislation and paying their workers government’s contributions from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
Nxesi was briefing the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour and the Select Committee on Trade and Industry. He says the department has already paid UIF benefits to the tune of R1.6 billion, and over 600 000 workers have benefited. About R40-billion has been set aside for the scheme.
The Minister says his department will compel companies to apply for lockdown Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits for their employees.
He says some companies have been refusing to comply with the regulation to apply for UIF, under the Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TEERS).
Minister Nxesi Briefed Parliament’s joint oversight committees.
Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi visits Unemployment Insurance Fund call centre in Johannesburg:
The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many non-essential businesses to close. And many workers have been sitting at home with either no income or their salaries being reduced.
Government is paying a portion of their salaries through the Unemployment Insurance Fund. But the Minister of Labour and Employment Thulasi Nxesi says while there are companies that have heeded the call and are remunerating workers, others are not complying.
“A number of companies complied but also another number of companies did not comply, did not want to claim on behalf of the workers. In fact, we have been forced to compel them by changing the directives under the new regulations pronounced by Cogta,” says Nxesi.
Nxesi says in some cases, deductions were made by employers but were not used to pay workers for COVID-19 claims.
“The COVID-19 benefit claims have flagged non-compliance from among some employers for example chairperson where deductions are made from the employee but not forwarded to the UIF fund, understating the size of the payroll for the purposes of the UIF deductions and claiming against a much larger number of the employees. We have been able to pick up that.”
The department says companies can apply for UIF online. And those who do not have access to it can drop their applications at the department’s offices.
UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping explains the processes for struggling businesses:
While Nxesi says the UIF is delivering, the official opposition is not convinced. Democratic Alliance MP Michael Bargraim says, “The department itself has now admitted that they are dysfunctional and that they cannot administer the funds as they’re expected to be paying out.”
However, some committee members have accused Bargraim of disinformation, but the DA MP wasn’t prepared to withdraw his comments.
Committee Chairperson Lindelwa Dunjwa says, “We’ll have to take the necessary steps of checking with the office of the house chair and the speaker if what honourable Bargraim is correct in doing, in creating a problem and confusion.”
