'UIF has significant assets' although Nxesi warns of collapse if Ters extended

Ters should be extended further says B4SA's Robert Legh. But the Labour Minister is worried about ordinary UIF beneficiaries.

Huge demands have been made on the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in this year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nearly 5 million South Africans have received a share of R53 billion paid out so far to businesses and employees to counter the devastating impact of the lockdown.

Applications for the extended and last round of Covid-19 Ters relief opened on Monday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 11 November that the benefit would be extended by another month, to October 15.

RELATED: UIF in discussions with Nedlac on whether COVID relief scheme should continue

Now a warning's been sounded that the UIF could collapse if it's forced to further extend the special benefits for South Africans who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi is worried about ordinary fund beneficiaries.

Bruce Whitfield interviews Robert Legh, chairperson of the Labour Workgroup at Business for South Africa (B4SA).

Legh notes that although the UIF's resources have been depleted, this must be seen in terms of the substantial surplus it had earlier in the year.

Some R53 billion has now been expended on the UIF Covid Ters benefit... but it still has a very significant amount of assets... It's well north of R100 billion.

Robert Legh, Chair - Labour Workgroup at Business for SA

We in business and labour have said that the benefit should be extended through to the end of December (but it's now been extended to mid-October).

Robert Legh, Chair - Labour Workgroup at Business for SA

Certainly from what we can see the amount of money being claimed in the more recent months is going down quite significantly... At this stage there are very few industries that are completely closed...

Robert Legh, Chair - Labour Workgroup at Business for SA

But the big unknown of course, and this where the minister is right - we don't know exactly what's coming down the pipeline in terms of people who have actually lost their jobs and are going to make ordinary UIF claims.

Robert Legh, Chair - Labour Workgroup at Business for SA

Listen to the discussion on The Money Show:

This article first appeared on 702 : 'UIF has significant assets' although Nxesi warns of collapse if Ters extended

More from Business

More from Opinion