Cape Town - Almost 40 000 people are waiting to be paid the Workmen’s Compensation, while the Department of Labour’s Compensation Fund admits it has a backlog dating back to October 2011.
The value of the outstanding payouts as from the start of this month is R280 million.
Lungisa Matandela, operations officer of the fund, said a new IT system had been implemented to accelerate processes. It was, however, experiencing minor system challenges.
“The 2011 backlog is from another system that was implemented in that year. The new system was implemented last year, and we are currently trying to pay that backlog through the new system called Umehluko.
“The system has been implemented and is working. However, (the) fund is still experiencing minor system challenges that are resolved through IT in order to make it optimal,” Matandela said.
In the beginning of the month, 8 852 temporary total disablement claims valued at R35 million were outstanding, while R157m permanent disability funds were still to be paid out.
National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim said the backlog was a “major issue” that put tremendous stresses on some of its members nationally.
The union was assisting where it could, Jim assured.
“There is a huge turnaround time, which can not be justified. We are concerned about what it is doing to our members.
“Therefore, we are dealing with it case by case, legally assisting them where we can.”
Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union deputy general secretary Chris Gina said he was not aware of the backlog.
It was, however, unacceptable that poor working-class people had to wait months or years before they were paid.
Schalk van Staden, 57, works in a chainsaw factory in Wolseley. In April last year, he was declared partially deaf due to the noise created in the factory.
Van Staden was approved for a lump sum compensation of R62 000, for which he is still waiting.
Whenever he called the fund’s helpline, he was told that there were problems with the IT system, which can not transfer the money into his account.
“I phone on a regular basis, and am always told the same thing.
“It is frustrating waiting like this, not receiving any correspondence from the department,” said Van Staden.
Cape Times