The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has resumed payment of Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) benefits after a 24-hour delay which was necessitated by the need to address some control deficiencies in the Covid TERS online payment system.

This is the usual step where, if the UIF picks up problems, whether in relation to governance or to further stress-test and enhance the system, the payments get suspended to deal with the matter at hand for a certain period, says the organisation.

As part of a wider Covid-19 audit by State organs, the UIF was also subjected to an audit by the Auditor-General (AG).

The AG team had observed some control deficiencies and anomalies in the system, which prompted the organisation to delay payments to address them.

“The suspension of payments is not a new thing to the fund. We do it all the time when we pick up certain anomalies that increase risk or expose us to potential fraud.

"There are instances where, at the behest of our internal audit and risk management units, we have stopped payments to certain companies when certain deficiencies had been identified. This is part of our governance framework.

“Therefore, as the AG performs its own audit and they make certain observations, we address them on the spot, and sometimes we have to stop our activities to correct the situation as we did with the 24-hour suspension,” says UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping.

Maruping adds that he recognises the possible negative impact this might have had on millions of workers who rely on the Covid TERS benefit for income.

“As the UIF management, we recognise and acknowledge the possible negative impact this might have on millions of workers who depend on these cash injections.

"That is why we would like to appeal to our contributors to bear with us because these intermissions are designed to make the fund stronger so that it can continue doing its work of providing sustenance to workers in their time of need,” he says.