COVID-19 ters payments

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Fact-check: UIF responds to claim they have ‘run out of money’

The Unemployment Insurance Fund confirmed their “finances are sound”.

COVID-19 ters payments

Image via Adobe Stock

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) on Thursday 11 March 2021 addressed a rumour about the fund is “running out of money”. It assured South Africans that this is not the case.

“We would like to assure clients that our finances are sound and we are able to continue meeting all financial obligations”.

Those obligations include the payment of UIF benefits. Here’s what you need to know.

Is the UIF out of money?

We traced one of the links on Twitter to khumbe.co.za, however, the article has since been removed. From the Twitter post, we could see that the link (before it was taken down) had the following slug: uif-running-out-of-money-the-citizen.

Another tweet revealed that the link had initially been posted on 24 November 2020. Moreover, the site is known for republishing articles from other news sources.

Following these reports, the UIF confirmed on social media that “all outstanding COVID-19 TERS benefit claims will be paid, including the extension period up to 15 March 2021”.

“The latest actuarial report confirms the Fund’s financial viability and its ability to meet its financial liabilities. Reports suggesting that the UIF has ‘run out of money’ are, therefore, false and misleading”.

TERS Applications open

The fund is currently accepting COVID-19 TERS applications for the period of 16 October to 31 December 2020. The online portal is open and can be accessed via this link.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed back in February during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the Ters benefit would be extended from 16 October 2020 to 15 March 2021.

At the time, granular details about the extension still had to be discussed and finalised by social partners at NEDLAC, but the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) gave clarity with regards to the extension. 

Following the SONA address, the fund said it anticipated sectors that were not fully operational since the beginning of the lockdown would require assistance. These include the tourism, hospitality and liquor sector, among others.

“The UIF will announce the opening of the system for the new period once the work to configure its systems is complete, and provide guidelines to assist users with the application process”.

Official UIF statement