South Africa approves UIF's relief scheme for workers hit by arson

17 Aug '21

2 min read

Pic: The South African Department of Employment & Labour

South Africa’s Unemployment Insurance Fund's (UIF) Destroyed, Affected or Looted Workplaces: Temporary Financial Relief Scheme was recently been approved by the government. The scheme has been set up to assist workers whose workplaces were closed due to recent unrest in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng, resulting in either reduced pay or no pay at all.

The approval was announced in a gazette notification on August 10.

According to estimates by the department of employment and labour, more than 75,000 workers have been affected by the unrest in both provinces.

The scheme seeks to assist workers in affected businesses. However, every employer, who is not yet registered with UIF will have to register first with the UIF to access the benefit, the department said in a press release.

Qualifying employers will be required to apply on behalf of their employees through a process that the UIF will specify. The process will enable employers to make bulk applications and they will be required to meet the following conditions:

Payment of the temporary financial relief will only be done directly into the worker's bank account unless the UIF Commissioner specifies the conditions under which payments can be made into the employer's account.

The relief will be paid based on the income replacement rate calculated on the sliding scale of 38-60 per cent based on the employee's remuneration.

The temporary financial relief is de-linked from the UIF's normal benefits.

The decision was welcomed by the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU), which has tracked 51 factories and associate businesses in its industry pipeline, employing thousands of workers from the poorest communities.

But the union’s most serious concern remains the threat of permanent job losses and industrial capacity destruction, which might now result in the context of a country that is already burdened by a triple crisis of extremely high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment, it said in a statement.

It cautioned employers not to opportunistically abuse this crisis by attempting to introduce employment contract downward variation provisions, as and when workers return to work.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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