The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has encouraged employees to use the various online tools and measures it has introduced to help curb snaking queues at labour centres across the country.
According to UIF Director of Compliance, Malesela Makgamatho, the online tools include the uFiling system, which allows employees to submit claims, check their status and submit enquiries from the comfort of their homes. The system can be accessed on https://ufiling.labour.gov.za/uif/ .
Makgamatho was addressing members of organised labour on Monday at Bolivia Lodge in Polokwane during the UIF Commissioner’s Breakfast session.
The session was held in conjunction with provincial Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) members and affiliates in Limpopo.
The UIF is an entity of the Department of Employment and Labour.
The session was aimed at educating organised labour about UIF processes, criteria, benefits and general activities, with the view of improving customer experience of clients and stakeholders.
“For more convenience, the department has also introduced a free USSD service to make it easier for clients to check their UIF status. The USSD service only requires an active mobile number. This is especially beneficial for those who do not have direct internet access,” Makgamatho said.
To check your UIF status using the USSD platform, clients are encouraged to simply dial *134*843# on any mobile phone. This will open up a menu with several options to choose from, including claims and payment status, employee registration, payment continuation and general enquiries.
UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping said the department has also introduced UIF mobile buses that move around provinces to assist clients in deep rural areas who are unable to visit labour centres in their nearest towns.
“Additionally, we have installed free Wi-Fi at all our labour centres so that clients can utilise the online system with ease when visiting our offices. Furthermore, 3 000 marshals and 3 000 officials have also been appointed to assist clients with online applications,” the Commissioner said.
He said the idea behind the online system is to give total control to the applicant so that they can take charge of every step of their application.
“The online system will help us to deal with the issue of incorrect documents, fraud and help applicants to keep their documents safe once they have submitted online. We want to take a different approach on how we work as a Fund. With the technology we have developed, we want to eventually eliminate visits to our offices entirely. We are in the process to improve these systems,” he said.
The commissioner said the department will in due course also introduce an employer driven process where the employer or even organised labour can be responsible to apply on behalf of the employees.
He explained that the intention for this engagement is for the department to work differently and see how best systems can be put in place to improve service delivery.
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