UIF boss fights suspension

R5BN TENDER: MARUPING 'THREATENED OFFICIALS WHEN THEY RAISED CONCERNS'

- Molefe Seeletsa

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) commissioner, Teboho Maruping, has been suspended on two separate occasions and the Employment and Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth has explained why.

Maruping was first suspended in September 2024 due to his alleged involvement in an unlawful R5 billion agreement with Thuja Holdings, a company owned by businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba.

The High Court in Pretoria ruled against the Thuja jobs scheme tender months earlier, declaring it invalid.

The court found that the agreement between the department of employment and labour and Thuja Holdings had not complied with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

Mdwaba later sought to appeal the ruling, but his application was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal in August.

Maruping was subsequently placed on precautionary suspension.

He had previously been suspended in 2020 following an auditor-general report highlighting irregularities in the payment of the Covid temporary employer-employee relief scheme (Ters).