Compliance Inspectors’ Duties

The ability of the schemes to provide services to its members is related to the degree of support it gets from employees and employers, and its success will be determined by the extent to which people comply with the Social Security law.

NSSA employs inspectors who have statutory powers of inspection and inquiry in order to enforce compliance. The inspectors duties and powers may be summarized as follows: –

1. To inspect any premises or place where he/she has reasonable cause to believe there are eligible employees in order to register all unregistered employers and their employees and enforce payment of contributions (POBS) and premiums (APWCS).
2. To make an examination or inquiry which he/she considers necessary to establish that the scheme is being complied with.
3. To ask employers to produce any books, registers, wage records, accounts, monthly returns, receipts, computer databases and documents relevant to the Scheme.
4. To copy, make extracts from and photocopy any relevant documents.

Inspector’s Certificate of Appointment

The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare appoints inspectors in terms of S39 of the NSSA Act. On appointment, every Inspector is issued with a Certificate of Appointment signed by or on behalf of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare.

On arriving at an employer’s premises, an Inspector may be asked to produce his/her certificate of appointment for the employer to verify inspector’s identity. If an employer has any grounds for suspicion, he/she should contact the nearest NSSA office.

Powers to Enforce the Act

The General Manager of NSSA is responsible for administering the two schemes. He/she has legal powers to enforce the provisions of the Act (DOWNLOAD: NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY AUTHORITY ACT 17 04 (PDF 128.4 KB)) under which the schemes are administered.

He/she may invoke these legal powers to enforce compliance by employers and employees with the provisions of the scheme and may recover unpaid contributions and any other debts due to the Fund of the Scheme, as civil debts, by instituting legal proceedings against defaulters.

It is a criminal offence for any person to:-

1. Evade payment of any contribution through knowingly making false representation.
2. Falsely obtain or procure any payment or benefits for himself/herself or any other person
3. Fail to comply with the instruments of the Act requiring him/her to register within the period specified in the Act.
4. Fail to ensure that any person gainfully employed by him /her on his/her establishment, is registered with NSSA.
5. Fail to maintain any relevant records, whether or not for the purpose of evading liabilities
6. Fail to pay to the schemes any contributions within the stipulated period
7. Obstruct any Inspector or Office or servant of the NSSA in the discharge of his/her duties
8. Fail, without lawful excuse, to produce documents he/she is required to have and to produce
9. Knowingly deduct from an employee’s wage/salary any amount exceeding the employee’s share

For clarity, Section 48(1) and 48(5) states that:

1. Any person who contravenes any provision of a scheme with which it is his duty to comply shall be guilty of an offence and liable-
   1. on first conviction, to a level five fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
   2. on a second or subsequent conviction , to a level five fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both such fine and such imprisonment.
2.  Any person who, in any claim, report, return or document in terms of this Act, makes a statement which he knows to be false in a material particular or does not believe on reasonable grounds to be true shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a level five fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or both such fine and such imprisonment.

Section 48 also provides that on the conviction of a person for an offence which consists of:

• failure to pay any contribution, surcharge or other amount or
• receiving any amount ,whether by way of benefit or otherwise to which he/she was not entitled under a scheme.

The Court convicting the person shall, in addition to any penalty, which it may impose, give summary judgement in favour of NSSA for the amount, which the person failed to pay or unlawfully received, as the case may be.

This list is not exhaustive and employers are therefore urged to obtain a copy of the Act and Regulations which may be bought from Printflow Pvt Ltd.