The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is surprised to learn that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has not shut down its old website; as a result, workers are unwittingly sending their unemployment claims to a ‘dead’ website and are consequently not receiving payment.

According to GroundUp, workers who applied for unemployment benefits via the old website received confirmation that their claims were accepted along with a refence number. It was only later after they had not received payment and followed up with the UIF office that they were advised they had used the wrong website and had to reapply.

COSATU is surprised but not shocked that the UIF did not think it necessary to shut down the old website once the new one was operational. After all, the old website was offline for months on end on several occasions in 2025. Both workers and employers were unable to access the UFilling system to lodge claims or register workers and lodge contribution schedules respectively.

COSATU has continually raised concerns about mismanagement, corruption, aging infrastructure and archaic systems at this critical social security entity. We have called for the UIF to be cleansed of corrupt elements and to be fully modernised.

The Federation has also written to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Ms. Makosazana Meth, requesting a meeting to discuss the myriad challenges at UIF. The issue of the ‘dead’ website will be added to the list of issues to be discussed at the meeting once a date has been confirmed.

Issued by COSATU