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GroundUp reports that people are having to queue for more than nine hours before being helped, if at all, at the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) office in Goodwood, Cape Town.
To avoid waiting in queues, the DEL has encouraged employees to use online tools like the uFiling system, however, these methods are not accessible to everyone. Last Wednesday it was former retail worker Adrienne Loufoukou’s fourth attempt to try and sort out her UIF claim. Homeless people sleep in front of the gates and offer their spots in exchange for money. To avoid waiting in vain once again, Loufoukou paid a homeless person R50 for a spot in the front of the queue when she arrived at 6am. “We don’t have internet or laptops to do it and not everyone is computer literate or has a smartphone,” said Samantha Beerwinkle. She arrived at 2:30am on Wednesday and was eighth in the queue. “I was here yesterday [Tuesday] at 5:45am and at 2:25pm they sent me away and said they can’t help anymore because it’s full.” Also in the queue, it was Hilton Dickenson’s third time visiting the office to sort out his UIF payment. He arrived there shortly after 5am. During his previous visit, he arrived at 6:40am but still wasn’t assisted when the office closed at 4pm.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marecia Damons at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page