CAPE TOWN - Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffery has expressed concern following an unannounced visit to the Cape Town Master’s Office, saying the facility was not operating efficiently.
Jeffery conducted an oversight visit to the Cape Town Master’s Office in the CBD on Thursday.
He was accompanied by the chairperson of the Legal Practice Council, Janine Myburgh, as a number of attorneys had raised concerns regarding service delivery in the Office of the Master in most of the provinces.
The Ministry said service delivery was initially negatively affected by Covid-19, and then further exacerbated by a ransomware cyberattack on the department last year.
“It should be noted that a number of factors were expected to improve service delivery at the Master’s Offices, for example, all staff were required to be back in their offices in line with Adjusted Alert level 1 regulations, and since the IT system restoration the Guardian’s Fund has been able to continue with the payment of recurring maintenance.
The new fingerprint verification server was also restored, and has so far been deployed to six Master’s Offices across the country. In addition, overtime pay was approved for all the offices until December 20, 2021 in a bid to address the backlogs,” the Ministry said.
During his visit on Thursday, Jeffery wanted to establish whether practitioners and the public were being served timeously and professionally, how long the queues were, whether existing backlogs had decreased and whether there had been improvements in terms of the issuing of letters of executorship and letters of authority.
The Ministry said Jeffrey found the situation at the Cape Town Master’s Office “very concerning” as the office was not operating efficiently.
He engaged with practitioners and the public in the queue outside the building and identified a lack of queue management, and the directing of clients a serious problem.
“The Master’s Offices are responsible for the administration of liquidations and deceased estates, the registration of trusts and the administration of the Guardian’s Fund.
“This often means serving the most vulnerable members of our communities, such as the widowed, families who have lost loved ones and children and the elderly, in particular.
“The Master’s Offices simply have to function optimally. We owe it to the public to constantly keep monitoring service delivery at these offices,” said Jeffery.
As the Master of the Cape Town Office was on leave, the Ministry said Jeffrey could not engage with her personally, but would be discussing the issues identified with both the Chief Master and the director-general of the department urgently.