Incompetence and ignorance

One would believe that a banking institution has the utmost professionals, who seek only the best for its clients and employees. I only wish this was the case for me.

My name is Sithembelo Nxumalo, I am an ex-Nedbank employee who worked for the organization for a period of 12 months on a 6 month contract.

In July 2 weeks before my contract expired I received sad news from my ex-manager Janelda Murugan about my contract coming to an end and it will not be extended ****her. After weeks of job hunting without any luck I decided to apply for UIF while I am still searching for a job.

On the 12/09/2021 I requested my ex-manager to forward relevant documentation that I need to submit at the department of labour. Days after I made the request and follow-ups regarding these documents I receive her email this was on 27/09/2021. Upon receiving the email I read through the document and pick up an error as it was written that I "retired from work". I made contact with her advising of the error I picked up as my contract expired and she advised that she will escalate the matter. On the 30/09/2021 I received the documents again, the error was not rectified and I advised that nothing has changed on the document it still says I am retired from work, and her advise was "take the documents to the department of labour as they are, and they will assist with the UIF application ".

Today I printed the documents and took them to the department of labour, the lady assisting there advised that "I cannot apply for UIF if the document states that I retired from work and I am saying the contract expired. I need to go back advise them of the error they made and once it is rectified than I can proceed with the application".

I tried contacting my ex-manager to advise her of this and she hung up on me, tried contacting the Nebank customer service a lady by the name of Megan was assisting, after being on the call for about 15 minutes she advised that she was advised that I should send an email to Nedbank HR department they will assist me.

It saddens me that I was out of work since the 31/07/2021 the organization never bothered to provide me with necessary documents that I should use when applying for UIF, after sometime I made contact requesting for these documents, documents with incorrect information were sent, after advising about this error I then receive the same documents and I am told to submit them as they are and now the department of labour is telling me that they cannot assist as the UI19 document is stating that I retired from work and Nedbank customer service is advising that I should send an email to HR.

These are trying times for everyone, the unemployment rate is increasing everyday and black people are on top of the unemployment list. I only need assistance with claiming UIF so that I can continue searching for employment that is all, and Nedbank being a financial institution I didn't see this being such a hassle. Or is this how they see money differently?