“The Compensation Fund has gone rogue. In gazetting draconian, irrational and unreasonable regulations pertaining to the Compensation Fund (CF) the day after Parliament rose for recess, the Minister of Employment and Labour has cynically abused his executive power to avoid oversight and evade public scrutiny. By so doing, he has undermined core constitutional principles and legislative good practice. The details of the rogue regulations are simple, but their implications are wide-ranging,” Tim Hughes, IWAG.

A media briefing will be held on Wednesday 22 September 2021 from 10h00 to 11h00, hosted by IWAG’s Mr Tim Hughes, who will be in conversation with Dr Angelique Coetzee of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and Senior Policy Advisor, Mrs Rona Bekker of the National Employers Association of South Africa (NEASA).

RSVP to receive the zoon link from Angie Richardson at angie@thepressoffice.net or WhatsApp 083 397 2512.

The new regulations published by the Compensation Fund (CF) in the Government Gazette on Friday 10 September 2021, mean that the CF will no longer accept nominated bank accounts of agents, including third-party administrators for claims repayment.  As of 30 September 2021, the Fund will only make payments into the bank accounts of medical service providers who provide the service to the injured worker.

It is long been known that the CF is chronically dysfunctional, this has recently been conceded by both the Minister of Employment and Labour and the Auditor-General in a recent Scopa inquiry into the Fund.

One of the consequences of the CF’s inability to fix itself is that the doctors, private hospitals, physiotherapists, and other Medical Service Providers (MSPs) who treat injured workers, have had to wait up to two years to be paid by the Fund. 

For this reason, MSPs use the services of professional third-party administrators - at no additional cost to employers, injured workers or the Fund itself - to navigate the Fund’s dysfunction and secure payment for medical services rendered to injured workers.  Third-party administrators also play a critical role in the sustainability of medical practices, as they pay MSPs upfront for their invoices.

The new regulations mean MSPs will now need to register a bank account with the Fund. In practice, at best, it takes a minimum of two months for a new bank account to be approved by the Fund, and MSPs are only being given two weeks to comply.

The impact is the already overburdened payment system is effectively halted, leaving MSPs out of pocket and facing a substantial new administrative burden. the multiplier effect of these regulations cannot be overstated. Quite simply, if they are brought into force on 30 September they will deepen the dysfunctional rot that characterises the Compensation Fund, and could well herald its final collapse, leaving the country’s most vulnerable workers unprotected.

For media queries and interview requests please contact Angie Richardson on 083 397 2512 or angie@thepressoffice.net