Trade union federation Cosatu has again called for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to be placed under administration following the Thuja Capital Fund Project controversy.
At the weekend, Employment and Labour minister Thulas Nxesi announced the suspension of the project following a Sunday Times report.
The article questioned the legitimacy of Thuja which the publication said the Department of Labour and Employment and the UIF were planning on investing in, despite the company having “no premises, website or track record” and existing “only on paper.”
Cosatu spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla said the minister had no choice.
“Indeed, it was the right thing to do, he had no option but to call for the suspension, but what is disappointing is that we have met with him more than two times to discuss the problems of UIF. We have met with the President to ask him to put the UIF under administration.”
Pamla pointed to the Bounty Brands saga which saw the UIF lose R1.77 billion on two failed investments in 2018, a massive portion of which a Scorpio Investigation showed was channelled to Bounty Brands’ UK holding company and, ultimately, its shareholder.
“So, there’s a history of coming out with these kinds of investments and then the money gets lost, so having had these discussions and to learn again they were planning to invest R5 billion in this kind of company is really disappointing which is why we are still reiterating our call for the UIF to be put under administration,” added Pamla.
To prevent theft, Cosatu called on government and law enforcement authorities to keep the UIF under close surveillance.
Pamla said the fund was at risk of the looting of billions of rand by corrupt individuals, adding that corruption was affecting UIF beneficiaries.
“If you look at the history of the UIF, the bungling, mismanagement, and corruption. The fact that there has been resistance from the political principals to take drastic action that is also really troublesome for us”, he said.
-EWN
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