The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) continues making a difference to millions of lives with its payments of billions of rands not only to South African workers, but also to foreign national workers who have made this country their home and are part of its economy.

These are payments that the UIF has been making to workers to ease their plight in view of the lockdown occasioned by the spread of Coronavirus.

“On June 1, the Fund paid an amount of R 275 139 235 to 11 637 employers with 65 823 foreign national workers standing to benefit. This is in addition to 23 000 paid last week, and in total 88 823 foreign national workers have been paid to the tune of R375 139 235”, said the UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping.

Maruping said for as long as foreign national workers and their employers have contributed to the UIF, there is no way they can be excluded from benefiting.

“So, any talk that suggests unwillingness to pay these benefits to our brothers and sisters who have found a home in this country and are part and parcel of our economy is devoid of truth.  We will not allow that and we are committed to the spirit and letter of the Constitution, which guarantees equality to all who live in the country”, Maruping said.

What is true, however, is that payments to workers of foreign nationality have taken longer because of multi-layered processes that are used to capture their information.

“Generally, UIF uses the ID number to capture information and process payment. In this particular case, passport numbers are used and these have to be verified through interaction with sister institutions like the Department of Home Affairs, and at times with the South African Revenue Services.

“Clearly, with such processes involved, it is likely that there would be some delays but the Minister has instructed the UIF to ensure that these delays are minimised or shortened tremendously”, Maruping continued.

It is also important that these workers are legally in the country, properly documented and are declared by their employers. To speed up the processes, the UIF has appealed to employers and Bargaining Councils who are applying on behalf of their workers to ensure that the following details are supplied when applying:

• Name and Surname
• ID, Passport number or work permit number or any other method of identification
• Proof of how the employee was declared at UIF and/or SARS
• Three months bank statements showing payment of salary to that staff member

With all these information supplied, the UIF will ensure that no further delays are occasioned for any worker. The UIF in general has been increasing the pace of payments with disbursements in 24 hours at best where all the relevant information is attached and at worst, in 48 hours.

So far, the UIF has paid a total of over R17-billion (R 17 262 056 961.36) for the benefit of 3 465 315 workers. This amount includes the money that has been paid for some of May applications which opened late last week.

For further information, log on to our website www.uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19 or reach the UIF on the toll-free number 0800 030 007.

Issued by Department of Employment and Labour