Here I’m sitting on a Friday afternoon, a year and 2 months after Lexa was born, fuming because… The Department of Labour says I refuse to give them an adoption certificate and therefore they will not pay my UIF maternity benefits. I kid you not…
These lame people that work at this useless government department for some odd reason cannot comprehend that the laws of the beautiful South Africa says that actually I don’t have to adopt Lexa, because well, she is registered on our name and I have a high court order and all these sections of the law that back me up.
I don’t know, is it wrong for the people of South Africa to expect all government departments should change when laws change?
So here is a recap of the hoops I have jumped thusfar:
- Applied for UIF maternity benefits end October 2016
- Had to fill in a document for parents that have adopted, attached a copy of the high court order and birth certificate – because they don’ have a form for me, but I am still entitled to the UIF benefits
- Heard nothing back and finally contacted them in February to ask what’s going on
- By April they said aikona, we need the adoption certificate, but fill in this appeals form and explain it all
- I completed the appeals form, attached a copy of the high court order and birth certificate – and explained and quoted all the sections from the law
- Ja, they didn’t do much and I kept on mailing them and asking what the status was
- In August I finally lost it and told them how useless they are
- I lodged a complaint through the presidential complaints line in August
- Phoned bi-weekly
- On 30 November the presidential complaints line operator read the feedback from the Department of (no) Labour – apparently I refuse to submit an adoption certificate, therefore they cannot assist
- 1 December 2017 I submitted a complaint to the Public Protector
So I am still fighting. I’m just one of those people that won’t and can’t give up when something like this happens. It is a matter of principle.
