Starting today, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in the North West will deploy an ICT-equipped bus to provide employment and labour services to citizens in remote areas.
It is part of a fleet of eight UIF mobile buses being rolled out across provinces to reduce long queues at labour centres and reach areas that are far from the centres.
The buses, worth R84 million, are equipped with WiFi, audio, workstations, generators, LED screens and servers.
Two of the buses have already been deployed in KwaZulu-Natal, now one in the North West, and the rest planned to be delivered to other provinces throughout August.
In a statement, the UIF office in the North West province says the buses will be used to deliver UIF and the Department of Employment and Labour’s (DEL’s) services.
The UIF is a public entity of the DEL, whose mandate is to provide short-term relief to workers who qualify for benefits.
According to the statement, the North West office anticipates that the bus will fast-track the provision of services in areas that are highly congested, such as Rustenburg, Brits and Klerksdorp.
“The bus will travel throughout the province monthly, from the 2nd of August 2021, to all the visiting points as per the regular schedule that will be communicated with clients.”
Selete Qhamakoane, deputy director of the UIF in the North West, says: “Our visiting points are not formal offices and normally when we go to these points, we only collect documents and list enquiries for further processing at the office. In most instances, we are not able to revert to clients with responses due to time constraints and other challenges.
“This results in clients having to go to the office. With the bus, we will provide the clients with on-the-spot service, a service similar to the one offered at the office, therefore they will no longer need to go back to the offices.”
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