Domestics urged to ensure UIF

2003-04-30 19:34

Johannesburg - Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana on Wednesday again urged domestic workers to ensure they were registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Wednesday was the deadline for all employers of domestic workers to register their employees.

"If our lines and faxes are clogged today, its not my problem. You had enough time to register," he said.

Mdladlana added he was happy with the response so far.

"I am very excited by the overwhelming response of South Africans."

He said about 300 000 out of an estimated 800 000 domestic workers had been signed up.

Mdladlana also indicated he did not expect to sign up everyone in he first registration drive.

Asked whether those employers who had not registered could expect to be prosecuted - the maximum punishment being five years' imprisonment or a R5 000 fine - Mdladlana said he would not use a "skiet, skop and donner" (sic) approach from the start.

Rather, domestic workers and their employers would be educated on the need to register.

Asked about bogus inspectors who were going from home to home in some areas, signing up people for a fee, Mdladlana said, "Call the police."

"Householders must call the police should people claiming to be labour inspectors come to their houses during the next week, as we have not deployed inspectors to visit residential homes. When we do so, the inspectors will be clearly distinguishable - wearing either a grey or white dustcoat with the department's logo on it and they will be carrying departmental identity cards," the minister said.

"The department will also notify communities before embarking upon inspections and people have every right to telephone a labour office to confirm the inspectors identity." the minister said.

- SAPA