Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi said that as part of efforts to clean systems at the UIF and the Compensation Fund, they would now design new systems to prevent fraud even beyond the pandemic.
FILE: Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi. Picture: @deptoflabour/Twitter
CAPE TOWN – Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi said that the Unemployment Insurance Fund had managed to recoup millions of rands paid out illegally.
Nxesi said that his department had taken steps to plug holes in the Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) and unemployment benefit pay-outs resulting from lockdown job losses.
The minister on Tuesday briefed the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s labour force.
Minister Nxesi said that as part of efforts to clean systems at the UIF and the Compensation Fund, they would now design new systems to prevent fraud even beyond the pandemic.
Nxesi said that wholly new systems had been put in place and they had also appointed forensic auditors to investigate cases, saying that they had managed to put an end to fraudulent activities like double-dipping by employers.
“Of the R3.4 billion of wrongful payments which has already been recouped and my thanks to the many honest and responsible employers who returned overpayments and after realising that a mistake had been made.”
The minister has also detailed the billions that government has managed to distribute in various provinces.
“In Gauteng, R23 billion was disbursed in five million payments, in the Northern Cape, R484 million was disbursed in over 1,000 payments and in all other provinces, they’re falling in between.”
