Auditor-general Flags 12-year Potential Fraud At The Compensation Fund
The Auditor-Generals office has flagged potential fraud at the Compensation Fund and advises that almost every aspect of the institution is dysfunctional.
The fund exists for workers who suffer work related injury, illness or death. Yet a managing director of a company that assists medical service providers and workers to obtain their compensation, told GroundUp of an instance in which the Fund has taken three years to pay a legitimate claim. As a result, some medical service providers are refusing to treat workers injured on the job.
Under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, employers pay an annual amount based on their payroll to the Compensation Fund.
Employers may claim for salaries they pay employees who are sick or injured. Medical service providers can claim for treating sick or injured workers, but they must register with the Fund.
The Fund, therefore, has a list of bank accounts for medical service providers. There should be only one bank account per provider, senior manager in the Auditor-Generals office Bulelwa Sikweyiya told Parliaments Standing Committee on Public Accounts SCOPA earlier this month. But Sikweyiya said that during the 2023/24 audit, they compared the bank accounts on the funds database against the account numbers paid.