The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has appointed a team of auditors to investigate companies that have received COVID-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) during the lockdown.
The UIF says the aim is to establish whether what companies have received from the relief fund has reached the intended recipients.
The government established the COVID-19 TERS earlier this year, as one of the measures designed to provide relief to employers and employees in South Africa during the pandemic.
The UIF has received complaints from several employees that they have not received their benefits despite an agreement between the fund and the employers.
UIF Director-General Makhosonke Buthelezi has warned companies that have pocketed the monies that action will be taken against them.
“We have appointed a team of auditors who will carry out this work throughout the country. These seven companies have expertise in auditing, accounting and forensic investigations. Firstly, we have sent the letters to all the people who have applied for the TERS benefit that we would be embarking in this exercise starting from this week,” explains Buthelezi.
“So they will set up appointments with the people who have received the money and they will go there and meet those companies. Failing to do so, we will obviously have to institute legal proceedings against those employers,” adds Buthelezi.
In the video below, Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi briefs the media on TERS benefits:
