Director-General of Department of Labour Nkosinathi Nhleko warned the officials of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) against complacency before congratulating the Fund for achieving a clean audit report from the Auditor-General.
Nhleko was addressing officials of UIF in Kempton Park last night – after the UIF received its third consecutive clean audit report.
“The report of the auditor general did not find any deficiencies in our internal control environment. Our fundamentals of internal controls and their drivers are stable and have been stable over the years. But if we do not keep on improving them we run a risk of regressing,” he said.
Nhleko warned officials that they had a duty and an obligation to ensure that they sustain the positive audit opinion to avoid losing the vision of contributing to the alleviation of poverty in the country.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund is an entity of the Department of Labour and its mandate is to provide short term unemployment insurance to workers who lose their jobs. Some of its other benefits include illness, adoption, death and maternity benefits. In the past seven years the Fund has been receiving unqualified audit reports.
He further said that officials must carry out their roles and responsibilities in a manner that ensures accountability, to the citizenry and workers of South Africa and other bodies that oversee the Fund’s activities.
In the past financial year, the Fund has paid unemployment benefits to 731 131 beneficiaries amounting to R6 billion which represents a 3,58% increase compared to the previous financial year. The actuarial evaluation of the Fund indicated that the UIF is in a strong financial position and would be in a position to discharge its responsibilities to its beneficiaries.
Nhleko stressed that officials should be mindful that the applications that they process daily were not just papers but had a soul.
“We must have feelings and empathise with the vulnerable unemployed people in our country and ensure that their applications are dealt with expeditious to assist them to ward off poverty,” he said.
