Extortionists target people queuing for unemployment insurance

Jobless Nelson Mandela Bay residents waiting for Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)  payouts during a crippling official backlog are being charged up to R80 to secure a spot in long queues at labour department offices in the city.

They claim “unscrupulous” individuals place rocks, bags and bricks in the lines and extort money from them for the spots.

Eastern Cape labour department spokesperson Ziphozihle Klaas-Josefu confirmed the backlog and said a security officer had allegedly been linked to extortion attempts. She said to address the backlog, labour department offices will open on Saturdays from September 14.

The fund provides financial assistance to unemployed workers, those on maternity and  parental leave, or unable to work due to illness or injury.

According to Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey released in August, Nelson Mandela Bay’s unemployment rate dropped to 30.9% in the second quarter from 32.4% in the first quarter.

Journalist Bulelwa Payi said the backlog had left her in the lurch. She said it was disappointing that people trying to unblock funds were instead confronted by criminals.

“It is a dog-eat-dog world outside the offices with people selling spots in the line for about R80 each,” Payi said. “Those who want to be attended to first pay the money, sometimes only to be told the system is down once they get inside.”

Payi, who was retrenched in November, said the queue outside the office in Kariega was long every day. “People start queuing as early as 4.30am. Elements who want to take advantage of the situation mark spots with anything from bags and rocks to bricks.”

Payi said she was supposed to get UIF benefits after retrenchment, but she only started to receive money in January. “Two months later it stopped,” she said.

“Getting responses from them is an endless task.”

Resident Carol Tonkin said she had been struggling for more than a week to get onto the UIF website. “It says ‘scheduled maintenance’,” Tonkin said, adding she was also receiving no joy from the labour department’s office in Govan Mbeki Avenue.

Charmaine Arries also visited the Govan Mbeki branch.

“The queues are almost 400m long. It looks like Shoprite on pay day,” Arries said. “You have to be there by 4.30am to be assisted early.”

She said she then visited the Kariega branch. “They were not helpful and I was told to go back to the one in Govan Mbeki. I was there for two days. On the second day I was asked to pay cash for a [spot] in the line.”

She said she didn’t pay. “I am in the line to get money. Why would I have money on me?”

Bay resident Christopher Adriaan said he was at his wits’ end. “I got my first UIF payment after waiting a month but got only R6,000. I was working for 17 years,” Adriaan said.

He said he then went to the Govan Mbeki branch. “The queue was long and I waited for a long, time” the former glass company manager said.

He was dismissed.

“I was working for a long time. I don’t know how they calculate it. I was earning R28,000 after tax but they only gave me R6,000.”

De Wet Els said his wife experienced the same issues. In December his wife was retrenched from her job as an assembler. Els said she earned R2,500 a week in the position.

“In January she applied online for UIF benefits,” he said. “She received an initial payment of R8,900 in February, followed by R3,700 in March. After being informed she needed to reapply for further benefits, she waited three months before receiving another payment of R8,900. Unfortunately the payments then stopped.”

When the payments ceased, she went to the branch in Kariega. “The queue was very long and we waited for hours, only to be told there was nothing left to give.”

Marelize van der Mescht said she has been struggling to get UIF benefits for her maternity leave.  “I submitted all my documents to them in November 2023, and when I followed up about my payment in May this year they said I had to resubmit all my documents,” she said.

“I didn’t feel like going through everything again. To this day I haven’t received anything. It’s pathetic.”

Klaas-Josefu said the backlog was a nationwide issue. “The department is aware of the backlog as this is a national problem,” she said.

“The UIF online portal system, u-filing, unstructured supplementary service data, virtual office and the UIF Covid-19 Term systems that have been disrupted resulted in long queues,” she said. “However, the province has since put a plan to open its offices on Saturdays g from September 14 as a mitigation measure.”

On the extortion attempts, Klaas-Josefu said: “A case was reported in October about a security officer who is an employee of the department who was allegedly involved in such activities. The matter was investigated and concluded by the department’s anti-corruption unit and is with employee relations internally for disciplinary processes.

“We are awaiting a decision from the National Prosecuting Authority on whether it will take the matter to court. The department is resolute in its stance that such tendencies need to be reported through the labour centre manager so they are dealt with decisively.”

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