The department encourages the use of its online system but many can’t use it
- People are having to queue for more than nine hours before being helped at the labour office in Goodwood.
- Last Wednesday, we found more than 100 people waiting outside the office’s gates when it opened at 7:30am.
- The Department of Labour has encouraged people to use its online system to avoid waiting in queues, but this is not feasible for many.
“We are standing outside like beggars for our own money,” said former retail worker Adrienne Loufoukou. Last week Wednesday it was her fourth attempt to try and sort out her UIF claim at the Department of Labour office in Goodwood, Cape Town.
“We are not here for fun. We lost our jobs and we just want that little bit of money. But now we are being treated like we are nothing,” she said. “I missed my children’s first day back at school to be here.”
Loufoukou lost her job in December and first went to the labour office on the 21st of that month. She was…