Unemployment Insurance Fund hits R40-billion in disbursements to ease COVID-19 lockdown blues
Today the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) hit the magic figure of R40-billion in covid-9 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme disbursements to ease the difficulty of workers during the lockdown as a result of the pandemic.
“Today we reached that magical figure that we committed to make the lives of workers in the country easier by injecting hard cash into the economy through disbursements to our contributors. We made a commitment of R40-billion and I am happy today to say we have kept our promise.
“But this is not all. As we have committed to an extension of the scheme until August 15 as a result of the change of the disaster period, this means that in the end, we will have paid much more than we promised. This is a good South African story – a story of how a public entity managed to inject so much cash into the economy and thus helping it in one of the most trying periods.
“While we are proud of the achievement we are also making sure that all the outstanding valid claims are paid as soon as all the information is received,” said the Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi.
Minister Nxesi added that as part of the agreement at NEDLAC, the UIF will start this coming Monday to process the July and August claims while ensuring that the outstanding April, May and June claims are also speedily settled.
“This is a great achievement by all standards and I am proud that we could deliver when the country needed us,” he said.
The R40-billion has covered 9 087 133 payments to millions of workers through 779 429 companies that put in claims on behalf of workers and have been broken down like this:
· For April, so far, a total of R20-billion has been paid to a total of 4 041 839 workers through 389 233 employers.
· The payments for May month stand at just under R11-billion (R10.9-billion). for the benefit of 2 704 763 workers through 168 089 employers.
· In June, the UIF has so far disbursed just under R9-billion (R8.6-billion) to the hands of 2 340 531 workers represented by 168 089 employers.
Some of the payments have been made directly to the employees (R1.5-billion), documented and declared foreign nationals who have made this country their working home (R1.5-billion) as well as over R200-million paid to domestic workers.
“This is a cause for celebration. It is also a cause for reflection that will allow us to find better ways to serve the people in this country. Under the most trying of circumstances, we have been able to rise to the occasion. Where there were mistakes, we have corrected them and are continually ensuring that we improve.
“This is also a good reflection on the NEDLAC as a functionary for a social parliament – bringing together labour, government, business and community. The discussions have been robust but we all have had one objective in mind – to improve the lives of the people in our country and to ensure that we mitigate the worst of the pandemic,” concluded Minister Nxesi.
For media enquiries contact:
Makhosonke Buthelezi
Director UIF Communication & Marketing
Cell: 071 491 7236
OR
Sabelo Mali
Ministry: Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 082 729 5804
