Compensation Fund: Good news in the pipeline at Fund:

The Compensation Fund has promised a bright future for its clients free from
glitches of delayed claims that have characterized the institution for
decades.

The promise was made by the Fund’s commissioner, Shakes Mkhonto, during the
last stage of the roadshows to provinces in Witbank, Mpumalanga on Tuesday.
“Time has come for us to move away from a paper-based institution to one
that is automated and therefore quickening claims capturing, assessment and
adjudication,’’ he told about 60 stakeholders from employers, organized
labour and medical practitioners.

The commissioner said the Fund was going to look at partnerships with
medical and pharmaceutical bodies and other specialist organizations to
improve its processing of claims.

He said the future would see an organization staffed with a knowledge worker
who is “rounded and who understands the entire value chain of the Fund.”
Such a worker should be able to provide first-call resolution and world
class customer satisfaction, he said.
Mkhonto said the envisaged Fund would have an Early Return to Work built
into the legislation around the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of workers
at the core. He said as things stand currently, employers get away with
murder by not accepting responsibility for injuries sustained by workers in
the workplace. This, the commissioner said, amounts to an Unfair Labour
Practice.

Mkhonto said the future Fund would be decentralised in order to bring
services closer to the people once agreement with trade unions have been
concluded. He said all the processes and case management would be done in
provinces rather than Pretoria.

Media release: Department of Labour
27 April 2011