The Citizen reports that several Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) beneficiaries serviced by the Department of Labour branch in Randburg, Gauteng, claim they have not received their payments for three months.

On Friday, a number of beneficiaries complained about the non-payment problem and claimed that officials were not giving them straight answers to their questions. One beneficiary indicated: “From April, I did not get the money, and when I asked them at the time, they said I must give them a month to sort out the issue. I went there again, but the officials told me that the system was down and they didn’t know why the payment had stopped. They ordered me to come back again at the end of July, but I was still not assisted. Instead, I was told to come back after 14 days.” Officials kept on telling another beneficiary who did not get the June payment to come back. Another claimant lamented: “Now we are only surviving by handouts from family members.” Cosatu’s Mathew Parks said the UIF has been a mess for many years, and nothing has been done to fix the endless glitches at the entity. He said Cosatu has been demanding that the crisis at the department be prioritised, but to no avail.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masoka Dube at The Citizen

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