UIF already dysfunctional

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is barely operational without the influx of claims due to Covid-19. I was retrenched and submitted my claim for benefits via Ufiling on February 25. Nothing to do with Covid-19.

Move forward three weeks and my claim was rejected on March 20. No reason was given, but I received an SMS telling me to go to my local labour centre and submit an appeal. I have tried contacting both UIF Pretoria (call drops repeatedly before even ringing) and my local labour centre, which is Roodepoort (message saying mailbox is full). This is the state of affairs as we are confronted by Covid-19.

Furthermore, I had surgery for a broken right ankle and torn ligaments on March 12 and cannot walk for three weeks, so how do I go and stand in a queue at my local labour centre to contest a claim refusal that I am fully entitled to? How do the elderly and sick deal with this? Is queuing the social distancing they are trying to implement?

In my opinion, UIF is not fit for purpose.

Via e-mail cannot sell or unbundle its Sea Harvest stake as it would cost Sea Harvest its empowerment credentials and right to fish. HCI has been unable to sell or unbundle its Tsogo Sun holdings as Tsogo would then lose its credentials and casino right.

Investors penalise investment holding companies that cannot mobilise their underlying holdings as this is a huge opportunity cost, and consequently investors have placed huge discounts on these BEE counters. This negates their ability to raise new capital, which makes a mockery of the BEE counters being classified as investment holding companies.

And it gets worse. Apart from not being able to raise capital, in HCI’s case it has been forced to buy back shares from white shareholders to preserve its BEE credentials. The result has been a large chunk of debt at the centre, making HCI extremely vulnerable to crisis.

Camps Bay

The situation becomes even more serious when the defence attorney brings in a senior advocate, or silk, who must have at least 10 years’ experience and is appointed by the president after being nominated by the Bar Council. They have a status similar to that of a judge and have often served as acting judges. They are the superstars of the legal profession; magistrates and prosecutors are often reluctant to challenge their opinions.

Perhaps the solution lies in transferring serious matters involving well-resourced defendants and members of organised crime to the high court. Taking a knife to a gunfight is not the way to go.

Cape Town