Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi, has accused some employers of abusing the COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) relief scheme.
Since April, the UIF has disbursed more than R21-billion benefitting more than 3,6 million employees.
Nxesi said the department appointed auditors last week to follow the money trail and that there were already indications that some companies have allegedly taken advantage of the help being advanced to workers and are seeking to “enrich themselves.”
“It is alleged that there are companies that have not paid the workers what is due to them. We are aware of some companies allegedly loaning employees the money and that is not legal,” said Nxesi.
“We are also aware of other companies that are allegedly paying part of the money and not the full amount, as well as companies using the money for something else other than the intended purpose. If all these allegations are true, we appeal to companies to do the right thing still,” added Nxesi.
