Business Unity South Africa have joined a chorus of concerns among trade unions in South Africa about the dysfunction and alleged governenace failures at the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has joined key trade unions in calling for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Fund to be placed under administration or new management, citing rampant corruption and dysfunction.
Business Unity CEO Khulekani Mathe said the organisation has withdrawn from the UIF structures at Nedlac following six years of “sustained effort” to try to help reform the problems at the UIF, and he wants the fund to “urgently” be placed under administration to stabilise operations, clear claims backlogs, and address governance failures.
He also stated that a forensic investigation was needed at the UIF to assess the “legality and appropriateness” of all fund expenditures. “The current situation is unsustainable,” he said. Business Report questions to the Department of Employment and Labout were not answered at the time of going to press.
The latest concerns follow a call one month ago by four trade union bodies—Cosatu, the Federation of Unions of South Africa, the South African Federation of Trade Unions, and the National Council of Trade Unions—for President Ramaphosa to deploy the Hawks and Special Investigating Unit to the UIF to probe allegations of “systemic and serious corruption” at the UIF and the Compensation Fund.
