The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) will today in Limpopo kick-off acountry-wide e-service platforms public education and awareness campaign.
This, as it looks to accelerate the use of its recently-introduced USSD platform and the zero-rated UIF mobile application.
The UIF is a public entity of the Department of Employment and Labour, whose mandate is to provide short-term relief to workers who qualify for benefits.
It introduced the service tools, which leverage technology, to address long queues at labour centres around the country, saying they aim to serve as additional service points that allow clients to access UIF services from anywhere, without having to travel to a labour centre.
According to Teboho Maruping, UIF commissioner, the use of a hybrid approach to access UIF services has the potential to significantly reduce long queues and will save clients money.
“Ordinarily, when clients approach the UIF to apply for benefits, they are not in the best financial position. It is therefore my view that no costs should be involved when it comes to them accessing our services.
“It was incumbent on us to move with the times and leverage technology to make it easier, better and faster for clients to access the money that we have saved up for them to use in their hour of need,” says Maruping.
“I want to implore clients to make use of the new platforms to, among other things, submit a continuation of payment or to check the status of a claim. You can do this by simply dialling *134*843# on any type of cellphone for free.
“The UIF mobile app can be downloaded onto a smartphone from Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or the Huawei App Store.
“Both platforms offer the same services, are free to use, and can be used at any time, from anywhere,” he adds.
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