South Africa's Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found that government education employees and healthcare workers were the most frequent defrauders of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
The SIU found that more than 6000 civil servants made illegal Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) claims. TERS benefits were introduced to provide short term financial relief for people who had lost income due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
The SIU were given the task of investigating TERS related fraud in August 2020 by the Minister of Employment and labour. The first phase of the investigation began on 1 June 2021 and will conclude at the end November 2021.
Making a presentation to parliament, the SIU explained that the first phase of the investigation centered around TERS beneficiaries who had been allocated PERSAL numbers. It is important to note that employees who work in a government department receive a unique PERSAL number. They were also paid during the lockdown.
The province with the highest total monetary value of matters received by the SIU was the Eastern Cape. The value of the claims amounted to more than R106 million. Majority of the claims came from the Eastern Cape Department of Health which accounted for 237 claims which was closely followed by the Eastern Cape Department of Education where 222 claims were identified.
The province of Gauteng accounted for the highest number of matters (1 664) that needed to be investigated and accounted for more than R15.7 million. Majority of the claims came from the province's education department (1 231).
The SIU revealed that many of those who were found guilty have signed an acknowledgement of debt agreements. SIU head Andy Mothibi said this does not exonerate them from criminal prosecution.
Mothibi said, “the investigation does reveal an amount of collusion between government officials, UIF in particular and private companies and individuals. And we will ensure that that kind of corruption is dealt with”.
