My maternity benefit

My name is Muriel Baloyi 831115, I went to maternity in January 2024 until February 2024 (only 2 months) I app**** online for maternity benefit in the department of Labour on the 11th of January and when I phoned their call center number on the 15th of February I was informed that my claim was cancelled by the accessor because my employer did not update my status on their system. I then phoned my employer and was told that they don't use the same system as the Department, so when I phoned the Department again; I was told that a screenshot from my employer is needed since they are using a different system. I got the screenshot from my employer as proof that I app**** for maternity leave for 2 months. I again had to call the call center of Department of Labour to ask if they have received my e-mail but I was told they were offline and I should call back the following day. Indeed I phoned them again on the 16th of February and it was confirmed that they have received my e-mail and all was in order, the next step was for them to forward it to the accessor and I must wait for the approval sms. I waited for the sms until the 11th of March unfortunately I didn't get it, so I phoned the call center again and I was told that my screenshot was supposed to be on pdf format this made me angry because they were supposed to inform me on the 16th of February. Fine I converted it to pdf and phoned again and as before they told me I should phone them back the following day because they can't see my e-mail. I phoned the following day (12/03/2024) for them to confirm my e-mail and to forward it to the accessor. On the 25th of March I phoned again and spoke with Talifhani, who told me that my status still says cancelled. On the 15th of April I sent an e-mail to UIF complaints and ufiling but never received any feedback. On the 16th of April I spoke with Lington Tolo who even spoke with my husband, and he said everything was in order and that we must give them 7 days to receive the approval SMS but nothing on the said date. So, I did a follow-up again on the 24th of April and spoke to Atlehang who told me there was no difference in my status and there was nothing he could do to assist me. The following day (25/04/2024) I phoned again and spoke with Reboni, I asked her to transfer me to her Team Leader, and when she introduced herself she said she is Dille. Fine I spoke to her, told her what Lington has said and even asked her to speak to my HR of which she did and she agreed for us to send her an e-mail with the screen shot and even pay slips, she then promised to call me the following day and told my HR she will give Reboni back the phone so that she can give her the e-mail address but Reboni gave her the UIF contact center e-mail and when she asked for the Team leader's direct e-mail she refused to give her and only told gave her the team leader’s name (Cordelia). On the 26th of April I phoned 3 times in the morning and spoke with Monica at 8:45, Rea Machaba at 10:45 ( who kept me on hold for more than 10 minutes then took my call to their survey) and Caleb Malatjie at 10:58 to ask whether my e-mail was received and to ask to be transferred to Cordelia but none of them assisted me, so the last person I spoke with on that day was Eugene ****a at 15:14 whom I asked to transfer me to his supervisor because he said he does not know Cordelia. He told me his supervisor (Itumeleng Baaitse) was still busy and will have him to call me back in an hour of which he never did. So, I phoned again after an hour and luckily, I got hold of Itumeleng, he asked me to e-mail him the documents and even said he will e-mail my HR because he feels they can’t do anything on their side. Now my problem is that he gave me an incorrect e-mail address and when I call the call center I can’t get hold of him I spoke with Molatelo Mathandisa who could confirm Itumeleng’s e-mail address even when I told her I have his surname; she put me on hold for more than 10 minutes and took me to their survey where I rated her 0 for all 3 questions. A bad experience with the department of labour is not new to me. In 2015 when I had my 1st child, I took everything to the branch in Randfontein but only received my benefit after I went back to work. Nothing is changing in this department, I mean they want us to do things online, but their assistance is zero. They don’t give us their full names; I wouldn’t be surprised if all these names were false. The maternity benefit is supposed to assist while on leave, I didn’t receive it in time so I borrowed and now it’s my 2nd month back at work, but I still can’t pay that debt. How long should I wait for?? Is this the government we want to rule in our country going forward?? Why isn’t service served in time of need ?? My email address is ***