Frustration at slow progress on rescue plan for Master's Offices

MORE than a year after the ambitious rescue plan for South Africa’s Master’s Offices was approved, mounting frustrations among legal practitioners and industry stakeholders highlight the slow progress being made to address long-standing issues.

- KAREN SINGH

Approved in November 2023, the rescue plan aimed to tackle backlogs and inefficiencies plaguing the Master's Offices. Its objectives included enhancing digitisation, upgrading technology, boosting human resource capacity, standardising processes, promoting transparency, implementing anti-corruption measures, and fostering public and legal community engagement.

Hussan Goga, chairperson of the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) Deceased Estates, Trusts and Planning Committee, said the LSSA is concerned with the continued dysfunction at the Master's Offices across the country.

“Despite numerous efforts over the past three months to secure a meeting with the Master's Office, the LSSA has made no progress. This lack of engagement remains a serious concern, as it directly impacts the efficiency and quality of instructions provided to legal practitioners,” he said.

He said during the LSSA’s annual general meeting in last April, the Acting Chief Master, Kanyane Mathibe, expressed a willingness to collaborate with the LSSA through a proposed pilot project aimed at involving attorneys in assisting with the resolution of persistent backlogs at Master's Offices.