THE UIF has set new extended dates to pay those who have lost income or salary affected by COVID-19 as it is putting its house in order.
The fund said this decision was reached during a consultation process at National Economic Development and Labour Council(NEDLAC) to extend the processing of new claims for April to September .
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The fund came for a hammering by the Auditor General Kimi Makwetu in his report on the allocation of money meant for those affected by COVID-19.
The report identified serious deficiencies in the distribution of this money leading to the entire management being shown the door by Labour and Unemployment Minister Thulas Nxesi.
The payment is currently on hold to fix these deficiencies. The fund on Tuesday afternoon the following extended dates:
*COVID-19 TERS benefit applications for March 2020 to May 2020 shall close on 25 September 2020
*COVID-19 TERS benefit applications for June 2020 shall close on 15 October 2020 and
*COVID-19 TERS benefit applications for July to 15 September 2020 shall close 30 October 2020. No further applications for the above periods shall be accepted beyond those dates. The fund said closing dates will not affect claims that have already been submitted, as they will be processed and paid once the outstanding information is finally submitted.
"Currently payments are still on hold as the Fund is still working with the Department of Home Affairs and other government databases to verify about 5 million identity documents of COVID-19 TERS applications. " This is done to ensure that payments are made to deserving and authentic workers," it said.
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An announcement will be made in due course on when payment will resume, said the fund and acknowledged the inconvenience this may cause to beneficiaries “But in the interests of mitigating the risks which have been identified both by our Risk Unit and the Auditor General, we unfortunately have to pause payments. "As soon as we have a sense of comfort with the steps taken, we will announce to the country the resumption of payments,” said Marsha Bronkhorst, acting UIF Commissioner.