“The opening of the system for July and August is subject to the publishing of the ministerial directive.”
Pretoria – The Department of Labour says a decision to release funds to millions of workers for the month of July as part of the Covid-19 Ters benefit payout will be announced when Minister Thulas Nxesi issues a directive on it.
This was revealed by Labour department spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi after numerous inquiries about the delayed payments.
“The opening of the system for July and August is subject to the publishing of the ministerial directive… Once these have been published, an announcement will be made as to when will the UIF start processing claims for July and August 2020,” Buthelezi said.
The relief fund was extended to August 15.
Buthelezi maintained that he was aware that the e-system had been tested and was ready for processing claims.
He further said as of August 8, the UIF had paid up to R38.5 billion in Covid-TERS Benefits.
Up to 727 238 applications have been submitted so far.
His comments come after the DA urged Nxesi to indicate when the July applications for the UIF Covid-19 Ters benefit would be open.
DA spokesperson on labour, Michael Cardo, said Nxesi owes it to the anxious and desperate workers of South Africa, who aren’t sure when their next pay cheque will arrive.
“The Ters scheme is due to come to an end on 15 August, and July applications still aren’t open. Applications for May opened late, at midnight on May 26.
“Applications for June opened late, on 24 June, and then closed almost immediately because of security and data breach issues, with functionality only restored on the weekend of 11 and 12 July.
“Now we are almost halfway through August and nobody is any the wiser about when July applications will open. We don’t know whether July applications will be considered separately from August applications, or whether the six-week bloc between 1 July and 15 August will be treated as a single pay period with a single application process,” Cardo said.
Political Bureau
