South Africa: My three-month battle with UIF that got me precisely nowhere

I started the process of claiming from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in May. Three months later, I’ve got nowhere.

I retired at the end of April. On 14 or 15 May, I went   to the UIF offices in Plein Street, Cape Town. I was told to be there early, so I took the 4.45am train from Fish Hoek and walked to Plein Street, arriving a little after 6am.

There was a very long queue already. I waited for about five hours and was eventually told I wasn’t going to get to see anyone…