Where are UIF Ters payments for foreigners who’ve contributed for years?

Please find attached soundbite from Dr Michael Cardo, DA Shadow Minister for Employment and Labour.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) implores the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to intervene urgently in the burgeoning humanitarian crisis confronting foreign nationals in South Africa.

While the DA welcomes the announcement by UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, that UIF payments to foreign nationals would be made more speedily, we are still inundated with emails from desperate foreign nationals who have been diligently paying UIF for years, seeking advice on how to receive their Covid-19 Ters benefits from the UIF.

In many cases they or their employers have successfully applied for the benefit, but no payments have been received with no feedback about the reasons for the delay either.

The DA has communicated with the Minister about this, and will continue to do so until the necessary aid has been given.

There are millions of foreign nationals legally working and living in South Africa, actively helping to build the economy and paying their dues to the UIF.

The DA has submitted parliamentary questions seeking clarity from Minister Nxesi on how many foreign nationals have applied for the UIF’s Covid-19 Ters benefit during the lockdown period. We need to know how many foreign nationals have received the benefit for April and May. What is the Department of Employment and Labour doing to ensure payment to those that have not earned a living for two months?

South African workers are suffering greatly from the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 lockdown. But they are not the only ones bearing the burden.

Our foreign brothers and sisters are in the trenches as well, facing hunger and wondering how to provide for themselves and their families. They have the added stress of being far from home. Their plight cannot be ignored any longer.