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Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001 (Act No. 63 of 2001)

Chapter 8 : General

58. Powers and duties of Director-General

 

(1) The powers and duties conferred or imposed on the Director-General in terms of this Act are in addition to the powers and duties conferred or imposed on the Director-General as head of the Department of Labour.

 

(2) The Director-General must perform the fiduciary duties in respect of the Fund in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999).

 

(3) Subject to such conditions as the Director-General may determine, the Director-General may delegate any power or assign any duty conferred or imposed on the Director-General in terms of this Act to any officer of the Fund.

 

(4) Any power exercised or duty performed under a delegation or assignment in terms of this section must be regarded as having been exercised or performed by the Director-General.

 

(5) A delegation or assignment in terms of this section does not limit the Director-General’s authority to exercise the delegated power or perform the assigned duty.

 

(6) The Director-General may, after consultation with the Board-
(a) purchase or otherwise acquire immovable property required for purposes of this Act;
(b) alienate or let any immovable property so acquired; or
(c) permit the use of any immovable property so acquired to give effect to any other law on such terms as the Director-General may determine.

 

(7) The Director-General may purchase or otherwise acquire any movable property required for purposes of giving effect to this Act, and may –
(a) sell or otherwise write off losses and deficiencies in respect of this property; or
(b) permit the use of any movable property so acquired to give effect to any other law on such terms as the Director-General may determine.

 

(8) Whenever the Director-General is of the opinion that any amount due to the Fund, or any amount paid by the Fund including moneys obtained fraudulently from the Fund, cannot or should not be recovered, the Director-General may direct that such amount be written off.

 

(9) The Director-General may –
(a) appoint agents or designate agency offices to serve as employment offices as may be necessary to assist the Director-General, Commissioner, Board or Fund in properly administering this Act; and
(b) confer on the agents or the officers of such offices such functions as may be necessary to give effect to this objective.

 

(10) Notwithstanding section 10(1), if the Director-General is of the opinion that the income of the Fund is insufficient or is not increasing at the rate required to meet the expenditure of the Fund or to meet reasonably anticipated future applications for benefits, the Director-General must –
(a) inform the Minister, the actuary and the Board of this fact; and
(b) after consulting with the Board make recommendations to the Minister on this matter.

 

(11) The Director-General may borrow money on behalf of the Fund in terms of section 66(3)(b) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999).

 

(12) Notwithstanding section 11, the Director-General must within six months of the end of each financial year or as soon as practicable thereafter, submit a written report to the regarding –
(a) the manner in which the Board and the committees are performing their functions;
(b) the number of unemployed contributors to whom benefits have been paid and the total amount of such benefits;
(c) the number of contributors to whom illness, maternity, parental, adoption and commissioning parental benefits, respectively, have been paid and the total amount of such payments; and

[Section 58(12)(c) substituted by section 15 of Notice No. 1305, GG 42062, dated 27 November 2018 (Labour Laws Amendment Act, 2018)]

(d) the number of deceased contributors in respect of whom dependant’s benefits were paid and the total amount of such payments.

 

(13) The report contemplated in subsection (12) together with the statement of income and expenditure and the balance sheet of the Fund, must be tabled in the National Assembly within 30 days after its receipt by the Minister if Parliament is then sitting and, if Parliament is not sitting, within fourteen days of the commencement of the next sitting.