UIF boss has first-hand experience of bribery

JOHANNESBURG - The Unemployment Insurance Fund Commissioner, Teboho Maruping admits that there are employees allegedly soliciting bribes to expedite claims.

READ: Busa calls for UIF to modernise

Maruping says he's had first-hand experience during his unannounced visit to a Soshanguve center -- where he was asked to pay a R400 bribe.

Commissioner Maruping says disciplinary processes are underway against the culprits.

He said, "I went to Soshanguve in one of our uninvited visits or we call it a mystery shop, and guess what to my surprise, someone asked me to pay R400 for them to process my claim."

"They didn't know I was a commissioner. So we paid the R400 because we wanted to see what South Africans go through every now and again so we paid the R400, we walked through the process and then we went to the police to report the case."

"But I did alert South Africans that we have picked up such kind of behaviour in one of our centers."

"We opened the case and three of the security guys that were involved have been dismissed. We're having disciplinary processes against other staff members that were involved in the process."

"And I went to another center, again as a mystery shopper, I had noticed that people have been complaining that some people send us home at 12pm and say we are not processing. So I went there wearing overalls and they sent me home at 12pm, they said no, we don't process at 12, so we took that supervisor to task again."

"So some of these things I've raised myself and have been there to the centers to pick up some of these issues."

"So some of the issues they're raising are not really unfounded, there's basis to them, I've experience them myself in person."