THE Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Covid-19 TERS) has been received by 14 percent of KwaZulu-Natal workers in the last three years.
This was revealed by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) commissioner, Teboho Maruping, while he briefed the media at The Royal Hotel, Durban, today, August 16. Maruping said this means the province only paid 2.2 million workers.
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“From the R64b Covid-19 TERS received, about R9b was paid out to workers. Over 14 million workers received their funds in the country with Gauteng leading with the larger number of over 6.7 million beneficiaries,” said the commissioner.
Despite its effort to alleviate the distress, Maruping said their forensic auditors will continue to audit companies to ensure that the correct amounts of Covid-19 TERS are paid to workers. Responding to the questions of a sinking UIF due to fraud and money-laundering cases, Maruping assured the public that the organisation is on the right path.
He complained about the high rate of corruption in the KZN UIF office. The commissioner said: “Most of our cases of fraud are found in KZN. Of the 166 fraud cases that are in court, about R46m is linked to these cases.” He said they are working with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to ensure that culprits are brought to book.
He highlighted that the SIU has recovered R61m on their behalf through fraud and money laundering cases, and the amount will be paid back to the UIF. He calls on UIF applicants to dial *134*843# to check their payment confirmation without visiting the nearby office.
“We encourage the UIF applicants to use our app to track their claims and check their claim status. The public can also use our app to launch a complaint. Our aim is to ensure that UIF applicants do their claims online without visiting our office,” he continued.
He assured the public that the UIF financials are in the right condition. “I would like to assure people that our money is solid. In the current quarter, we received about R5.8b from UIF contributions and paid out R3.9b to claims. We are able to pay claims and save money for our investments,” he added.
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