UIF bounces back from COVID-19 payouts, focuses on clearing audit issues

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) said it has recovered from the COVID-19 years when it paid out R65 billion to compensate those affected by the lockdowns, but the Auditor-General (AG) has still found its financials wanting.

The fund’s commissioner, Teboho Maruping, has been on suspension for more than a year, earning more than R1.4 million in that time.

On Monday, Parliament’s Employment and Labour Committee heard that despite the growing claims, the Fund remains financially sound.

Only three weeks into the job, acting UIF Commissioner Malebo Mabitje-Thompson has been seconded from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to step in while a disciplinary process against the commissioner wraps up.

Over the past financial year, she says the Fund paid over R18 billion in claims compared to R15 billion in the previous year.

"The UIF remains a going concern, but there remain areas that we ourselves would be the first to say, we need to strengthen, and we are working on strengthening."

The UIF’s Chief Financial Officer, Fezeka Puzi, says the Fund’ R11 billion in investments is keeping its finances in the black, as well as having broadened its base with new companies contributing to the Fund.

"Our total budget was R37.7 billion; however, we spent R24.6bn. Our biggest contributor there was on labour activation."

Mabitje-Thompson said the backlog of claims has been cleared, and the Fund is now working towards improving its audit outcome from a qualified opinion.