Master’s Offices were saddled with a backlog of more than 13 000 matters as at December 2023 and only 6.75% of the backlog has been cleared.
This was revealed by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola when he responded to DA MP Werner Horn, who asked about the backlog faced by the Master’s Offices.
Lamola said the backlog in the Master’s Office consisted of backlogs in Guardian’s Fund applications, Trust matters and the issuing of appointments in deceased estate matters.
“As at 31 December 2023, the backlog was 13 851 matters; 935 (6.75%) of backlog matters have been cleared and offices are working on clearing the rest of the backlog,” he said.
“The Masters are still plagued by several challenges including, but not limited to, systems downtime, load shedding and a high vacancy rate in the midst of costs containment measures, thus finding themselves juggling between reaching increased annual performance plan targets, assisting clients as well as dealing with the omnipresent and inevitable increasing backlog,” Lamola said.
Responding to a separate question from Horn and ANC MP Xola Nqola, Lamola said despite the backlogs, the Master’s Office was making progress in addressing the challenges faced.
In November, the office came up with interventions after it faced criticism for delays in the provision of its services, slow systems, loss of clients’ documents, poor infrastructure, backlog of services and long queues.
Stakeholders, including the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), have accused the Master’s Office of not being responsive, not answering telephones, delaying in responding to queries, lacking accountability and leadership, among others.
A complaint was lodged with the justice and correctional services portfolio committee after months of frustrations.
In his written response, Lamola said the Master of the High Court committed to implementing immediate and short-term interventions as part of the Master’s turnaround strategy in November 2023.
Lamola said one of the interventions was the roll-out of the Deceased Estates Online system nationally by January 2024.
The intervention was aimed at assisting the Masters in addressing challenges of long queues, long turnaround times in issuing appointment letters and it enabled practitioners as well as members of the public to lodge deceased estates online and to book appointments online to visit the Masters’ Offices at a date and time of their choosing.
“Masters and ICT have successfully completed the roll-out of the system on 14 December 2023 in all Masters’ Offices as well as service points.
“As at 21 February 2024, 2 926 applications were lodged on the online system,” he said.
Lamola also said in terms of increased visibility and education on the Deceased Estates online functionalities and other Masters’ services, his department has developed and published training videos on the Masters’ portal, YouTube and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
“The videos can be accessed by practitioners and members of the public to assist them in lodging deceased estates applications, booking appointments online and tracking the status of their applications.”
Lamola added that the Master’s Office had also committed to increase engagements with the legal fraternity and provision of training of online platforms as requested by the LSSA.
He said a training webinar was hosted by Office of the Chief Master to train stakeholders practising in deceased estates on the use of the new online system, provide them with further updates on future developments and to give them a platform to raise any issues they may have with the Masters’ services in January.
A total of 2 308 legal practitioners, fiduciary professionals and accountants were trained at the webinar, Lamola said.
Cape Times