Public Accounts (SCOPA)
06 September 2022
Chairperson: Mr M Hlengwa (IFP)
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Meeting Summary
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts convened in a virtual meeting to receive a briefing from the Commissioners of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation Fund (CF) on progress with the implementation of corrective measures at the two funds.
The Compensation Fund said that the Director-General had approved a clean audit action plan on 11 August to address the root causes of the various audit findings by implementing specific controls. The Fund’s management has implemented this action plan over the last 12 months, with a dedicated team providing coordination and monitoring support.
A major financial consulting firm had been appointed in March for 18 months to diagnose the organisational architecture of the UIF and the CF, as well as the offices of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases. The UIF provincial offices and labour centres focus mainly on the two funds’ work.
Reporting on the forensic investigation progress report, the Compensation Fund said that the project’s initial phase had been completed, and the planning and execution phases were in progress. The reporting and closing phases had not started.
The UIF told the Committee that it had paid out R61 billion over the past two years to more than 250 000 companies for about 4.7 million employees, and employed six auditing companies to confirm if the money had been transferred to the rightful recipients. R14 billion had been confirmed as correctly paid to deserving employees and, as a result of this exercise, the Fund had had R3.2 billion paid back into its accounts by the auditors. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had been investigating undue payments, focusing on payments made to government officials, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), prisoners and the deceased. The unit had secured R42 million in terms of acknowledgements of debt, and R33 million of this amount had been paid back to the SIU.
The Committee expressed frustration at the lack of answers from the CF and UIF regarding their poor performance. The two entities were not doing enough to improve their performance to better serve vulnerable workers, as both entities were yet to present their 2020 and 2021 financial reports to Parliament. For the past decade, the CF had received disclaimer audit outcomes from the Auditor-General (AG), which meant the AG could not make head nor tail of the entity’s finances. The UIF was no better, as it had continuously received disclaimed audit opinions. The organisations had both acquired the services of consulting companies to help them remedy the situation.