Author: Ground Up
People who have lost their jobs or are on maternity leave are struggling to access money owed to them by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) which they were compelled to contribute to while employed. Those claiming UIF have been frustrated by the Department of Employment and Labour’s online registration system through which UIF is claimed. The system often reflects incorrect information or does not allow people to register as claimants. In September last year UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) that a new UIF app allowing people to lodge claims online would reduce the lines at…
By Daniel Steyn Postbank announced this week that from April 2024 social grant beneficiaries will no longer be able to withdraw their social grants at Post Offices or cash paypoints. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), which contracts Postbank to administer the payment of social grants, told Parliament in February that 142,000 people (about 0.8% of all grant recipients) still make use of cash paypoints and another 123,000 collect their money from Post Office branches. Postbank and SASSA have prioritised the rollout of a national payment system which sees grant money paid directly into recipients’ personal bank accounts or SASSA…
By Liezl Human South Africa will have to up its climate financing to R535-billion to meet the goals set by the government in terms of the 2016 Paris agreement, a new report has found. The report, launched by the Presidential Climate Commission, tracked private and public investments made between 2019 and 2021. It found on average, R131-billion was spent, most of it on clean energy, and most of it financed by debt. The report follows the recent passing by the National Assembly of the Climate Change Bill. South Africa needs to drastically increase its climate financing if it wants to meet its climate…
By Fatima Hassan Critical work done by South African scientists on mRNA vaccines for several diseases is at risk from patent claims from the pharmaceutical giant Moderna. Yet the government could easily protect this and other programmes by speeding up the passage of amendments to patent laws. Every year, industry’s biggest players spend a combined US$4-billion on legal action. Even then, there was an audible gasp from the world’s media when Moderna, which developed a Covid vaccine with the US government, announced it was suing rivals Pfizer and BioNTech for “patent infringement”. All three companies have made a fortune from selling Covid vaccines,…
By Ella Morrison Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola has approved a rescue plan for the South Africa’s Master’s Office. The dysfunction of the Master’s Office has reached a crisis point according to many in the legal fraternity. GroundUp has previously reported on the chaos at the Master’s Offices across the country. The Master’s Office is responsible for among other functions the administration of deceased estates, the setting up and liquidating of trusts, and managing the Guardian’s Fund to protect the interests of minors and people deemed legally incapable of administering their affairs. The rescue plan aims to fix backlogs, improve digitisation, increase capacity,…
By Raymond Joseph Pressure is mounting on the police and the Hawks to speed up investigations into grant corruption at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), and for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute people implicated in the looting. So far, only one person has been convicted in a case involving Lottery corruption. In 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight years in prison after the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court found he had “hijacked” a non-profit organisation and then used it to defraud the NLC of R1.5-million. In September 2020 a dossier of evidence involving four multimillion rand grants to dodgy non-profits, compiled by independent…
By Ashraf Hendricks Libraries are meant to be safe spaces where people, young and old, come to spend time to relax and learn. It’s where they should be able to read books in peace or access the internet to do personal projects or school assignments. But some Cape Town libraries have become the targets of petty criminals and are often forced to work under the threat of gang violence. One such library is in Hanover Park which has to close intermittently due to violence at the neighbouring taxi terminus. Lucien Ruiters, manager of the Hanover Park Library, says from the library…
A R6.3-million Rolls Royce Phantom and a R1-million property in an office park linked to former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda have been frozen by the Pretoria High Court. Both were bought using Lottery grant money. The car and the property are included in a preservation order granted by the court against several people on 28 September. The court order freezes four properties in Polokwane and Louis Trichardt, Limpopo, and three luxury vehicles, with a combined value of approximately R14-million. The order was granted in terms of the 1998 Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which aims “to combat organised crime,…
By Daniel Steyn Members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development were told on Wednesday that last week’s “system glitch” which affected thousands of social grant recipients was caused by software Postbank uses to pay grants. This “payment switch” software enables Postbank to connect to the BankservAfrica platform and process transactions through the Integrated Grant Payment System (IGPS). About 35% of grant recipients, a total of 6.3-million people, receive their money through this system, which pays the money into SASSA/Postbank cards. GroundUp has recently been given court documents describing some of Postbank’s troubles with the payment switch software, which date back…
By Tania Broughton A doctor involved in a questionable National Lotteries Commission (NLC) deal has failed in his bid for an interdict to stop the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) from what he claims is “harassment and intimidation”. Dr John Marite, who heads up Right Play Health Services, asked for a final interdict against the SIU, and one against Malwanda Solly Siweya from contacting him other than through his attorney, contacting his family and employees, and attending his private residence. He also sought an order that the SIU not share with anyone else any information about his interactions with it, including Siweya,…