While others were acquitted, Kagiso Sampson says he was dismissed and ordered to repay R257 000.
A Gauteng man is accusing the department of employment and labour of unfairly dismissing him and unlawfully deducting money “lost because of him” from his pension.
Kagiso Sampson from Brakpan in Ekurhuleni, a former supervisor at the department’s Randburg office, reported his “unfair” dismissal to the bargaining council and the matter will be heard on 20 September.
Sampson is one of four employees suspected of processing allegedly fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Fund claims amounting to more than R250 000 in 2022.
They were charged three years later. The other employees, including the claims assessor, were acquitted, but Sampson was fired early this year.
Claims of unfair treatment
“My job was to capture the claims and forward them to the other employees to further process the payment. But all the other people, including those who approved the payments, were acquitted, while I was dismissed. Now the department wants to recoup the lost money from my pension fund.
“The reason I am not happy with this is that I don’t understand why I am being dismissed and punished while my involvement in the processing of payments was less.
“They need R257 000 from my pension to recoup the money lost due to the fraudulent claims that we processed unknowingly.”
Promotion despite fraud probe
Sampson said another puzzling thing about his dismissal was that the fraud allegations surfaced in 2022 and the department continued to promote him.
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By the time they fired him, he was a supervisor at the Randburg office. Sampson said that initially the department refused to give him the documents to enable him to claim his pension fund, but later agreed.
He said after some weeks he received a call from the department to inform him that he owed them money and it would be deducted from his pension.
“I immediately sent an e-mail asking them to explain their intention and who authorised the deduction. But they did not respond. Instead, they said I must be patient because my pension is being processed.”
Seeking legal recourse
Sampson is currently receiving legal advice. He wrote to the Government Employees Pension Fund ombud to report the department for the “unauthorised” deduction.
“I was unfairly dismissed, so the matter is currently with the bargaining council for arbitration. I requested withdrawal of my pension on 18 June,” the letter read.
He believed that his dismissal had nothing to do with the fraud case, but there might be people who wanted him out.
Department spokesperson Teboho Thejane said: “The department follows established formal employment policies on such matters.”
