SA Hopes Commissioner Teboho Maruping Will Fix Covid19 UIF TERS Payments Now That He's Back In Office

• The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Commissioner Teboho Maruping has returned to work after he was cleared of some allegations
• Maruping was thought to have unduly benefitted when his department made TERS payments to companies and people that did not qualify
• South Africans have raised their grievances about TERS payments not being made and hope Maruping will prioritise the issue now that he is back in office

JOHANNESBURG - Teboho Maruping, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Commissioner has resumed his duties after being suspended for over a year.

Maruping was suspended by Labour Minister Thula Nxesi after suspicion around corruption committed in relation to the Covid19 temporary employer/employee relief scheme (TERS).

In 2020, the auditor-general released a report which found that there were irregularities in how TERS funds were distributed and also found that a number of companies unduly benefitted from the TERS fund.

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R1.3 billion was paid to companies that had not submitted their invoices to the UIF and companies who had stated that their employees' salaries were not impacted by the pandemic were also paid, according to a report by TimesLIVE.

In addition to companies unfairly befitting from TERS, the report also stated that even inmates, deceased people, as well as underage people, were part of the recipients of TERS.

Maruping was suspended while the Department of Employment and Labour investigated whether or not he had benefitted from the irregularities. The Commissioner has now been cleared of all suspicions of undue benefits and has returned to work starting 1 February, according to EWN.

However, Maruping has been found guilty of hiring media houses to advertise TERS as a sole provider and being in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. As a result of the guilty verdict, Maruping has been granted a final warning and a one-month suspension without pay.

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South Africans hope Maruping can fix TERS payments

South Africans were not too happy to welcome back the UIF commissioner upon returning to the office. Some people just want Maruping to payout outstanding TERS payments.

Here are some comments:

@Skhu703 said:

"Welcome back, now get rid of some Covid TERS errors."

@adrikitshoff said:

"Welcome to your office Commissioner. I sincerely hope that one of your first tasks will be to get a report from staff about long outstanding unemployment benefits and the poor communication re reasons for delays, to find urgent solutions. Please use my case as a test. Thank you!"

@hlengi_wear91 said:

"Welcome him they say? @NxesiThulas and the whole department are a big joke and we must give a "warm welcome" to more nonsense! Please respect us."

R120m in TERS funds paid to state officials

Briefly News previously reported that the UIF TERS scheme was intended to assist South Africans financially endure the lockdown implemented as a result of the Covid19 pandemic.

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It recently emerged that gaps in the system allowed citizens who weren't meant to claim, score millions from this critical fund.

Responding to questions posed in Parliament Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has shed some light on the looting that has taken place at the UIF in relation to its TERS relief fund.

Nxesi confirmed that (between the start of April and the end of September 2020) over R119 million was paid out for fraudulent claims including applicants too young to work, deceased citizens, inmates, applicants with invalid identity numbers and applicants with the same bank account details as UIF employees.

Source: Briefly News