Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana on Wednesday stated that more than 600 000 domestic employers have registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to date.
The minister expressed his satisfaction with the process of registering domestic workers.
April marked one year of the world’s first extension of coverage of the most vulnerable workers, the domestic workers, to the UIF.
Speaking in Pretoria, Mdladlana said the inclusion of domestic workers into the Unemployment Insurance Act was not a coincidence, but a clear demonstration that the government is indeed serious about the protection of the rights of workers, especially the most vulnerable.
“These workers were taken for granted by the previous apartheid regime, which never showed any respect to the majority of the people of this country,” he pointed out.
The minister added that although the inclusion of domestic workers was only formalised on April 1 2003, the personal details of the first individual to register with the UIF were captured on February 26 2003 during the pre-registration phase — ahead of the implementation of the registration.
“I can vividly recall the labour pains we had to go through during the early stages of the registrations of domestic workers as our officials were battling to cope with the unexpected influx of domestic employers who responded to the call to register their workers,” the minister recalled.
He said the pains began to ease with the passing of time as the officials became more experienced and also the UIF started making available various options, including registration by fax, online and by telephone.
When the inclusion of domestic workers kicked off, the department set a target of reaching out to the estimated 800 000 employers of domestic workers in the country.
“We were greatly encouraged to have been able to register more than 300 000 domestic workers at the end of the first month of the coverage of domestic workers,” he added.
He further revealed that to date the UIF has managed to register 75,2% of the targeted figure.
“As we celebrate one year of the registration of domestic workers, which also falls within the festivities to mark 10 years of the dawn of democracy, 601 546 domestic employers have now registered with the fund,” Mdladlana disclosed.
He also reported that a total of 63 012 domestic households have deregistered with the fund for various reasons, ranging from termination of services to incorrect registration of domestic employees.
The highest numbers of domestic workers were registered in Pretoria while the least were registered in George in the Western Cape.
Also, between April 2003 and January 2004 the UIF paid R3,424-million to 10 287 domestic workers who lodged their claims for unemployment benefits.
The minister said to further demonstrate the government’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable workers, the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act, which became effective from the beginning of June, also gives recognition to the many employers for domestic workers.
“What we are saying is that we recognise that for domestic workers they can work for more than one employer and partial unemployment could result from losing one or two of those jobs. We are also saying unemployment for domestic workers could result from the death of an employer of that domestic worker,” concluded the minister. — I-Net Bridge