defaulters
26 June 2007
The Department of Labour has made the final call to taxi owners to register
their businesses and workers with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) ahead
of Saturday's tax amnesty deadline (30 June 2007). The tax amnesty is an
initiative to afford business owners an opportunity to register their
businesses with South African Revenue Service (SARS) and UIF, without any
penalties for past non-compliance and huge costs and interests that might have
been accrued in the process. "This is a final lap for all employers in the taxi
industry to ensure total compliance with the fund as required by the law. Any
failure on the side of the industry would be calling for stern enforcement of
the law by the fund," revealed the UIF Spokesperson, Kgomotso Sebetso in
Pretoria today.
Sebetso emphasised that beyond the deadline the UIF would vigorously pursue
errant employers. Errant employers stand the risk of having to pay penalties,
penalties or even face imprisonment. He said fines running into hundreds of
thousands of Rands could be levied against defaulters. "Our offices nationally
are ready to provide the necessary assistance to those employers who want to
beat the Saturday deadline by registering their businesses and workers with the
fund," Sebetso explained.
He further said that it was also compulsory for employers to ensure that the
2% contribution reached the UIF every month. This would be made up of 1%
contribution from the employer and 1% deduction from the employee's salary.
"The primary objective is ensuring that the coverage of the taxi industry into
the social security net which was introduced in 01 July 2007 comes to fruition.
It is imperative to ensure that all qualifying workers gain access to all the
UIF benefits and services," Sebetso added.
"We also want to urge employers to ensure that the UIF contribution is in
line with the set minimum wage as provided in the Taxi Sectoral Determination,
which currently stands at R1 431 per month," he said. With the industry
boasting over 150 000 workers nationwide, it was of a concern that only 3 681
employers have registered their businesses with the fund and about 5 060
workers had been registered with the fund.
In conclusion Sebetso expressed the fund's gratitude to all law abiding
employers who continue to show commitment by registering their businesses and
workers with the UIF.
Enquiries:
Kgomotso Sebetso
Cell: 073 269 9870
E-mail: kgomotoss@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
26 June 2007
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za)
