The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has provided details about service disruptions at the Pretoria and Cape Town Master’s Offices, including inaccessible physical files, network problems, processing delays and backlogs.
The department’s responses come as it continues to introduce digital systems for the administration of deceased estates, trusts, the Guardian’s Fund and insolvency matters.
Nuusflits previously reported that the department’s digital transformation strategy includes Deceased Estates Online, Trust Online, the Trust Beneficial Ownership Register, Guardian’s Fund Online and the development of Insolvency Online. The department has also recognised the online publication of qualifying legal notices under Master’s Directive 1 of 2025.
The latest responses provide further information about the extent to which physical files, network infrastructure and manual processes continue to affect services at two of the country’s busiest Master’s Offices.
Pretoria relocation disrupts services
Palesa Rammitlwa, spokesperson to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, confirmed that the recent relocation of the Pretoria Master’s Office to the Metro Building had posed several challenges.
“The move was planned and executed with relevant service providers. During the move, certain glitches arose, namely the unpacking and filing of files and the preparedness of the systems and network infrastructure. This is being corrected,” Rammitlwa said.
“This has resulted in delays, as files are still being unpacked and correctly filed to allow officials to access them as needed. Unstable network connectivity adds to the difficulties officials have been experiencing in serving the public efficiently. The unstable network arose from the incomplete installation of the network infrastructure.”
Rammitlwa said remedial measures had been introduced to ensure that services resumed fully as soon as possible. “Deceased estates and insolvency matters are already being attended to. Other services are still limited, although progress is being made daily.”
Appointment platform
Legal practitioners alleged that the online appointment platform for deceased estates continued to accept appointments, while some offices were reportedly unable to assist those who had made bookings.
“Network challenges may, from time to time, hamper communication between the system and officials, leading to delays in service,” Rammitlwa said. She confirmed that statistics were not kept on how many appointments had been attended to since 2024.
As a result, the department could not provide figures showing how many appointments had been booked, completed, postponed or not honoured during this period.
Pretoria meets executorship target, Cape Town falls short
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s Annual Performance Plan for the 2026/2027 financial year contains performance indicators that measure different areas of work against set targets.
“One of these indicators measures the percentage of Letters of Executorship issued in deceased estates within 15 days of receipt of all required documents, with a target of 80%,” Rammitlwa said.
According to the department, Pretoria had achieved the target for the financial year to date.
Cape Town had not achieved the target due to continued capacity constraints and technological challenges, which the department said it was working to address.
“The monitoring of the issuing of Letters of Authority in terms of section 18(3), as a separate indicator, was only introduced this year. There are therefore only three months of statistics available,” Rammitlwa said.
These figures indicated that, on average, approximately 75% of the appointments were issued within seven working days of receipt of all required documentation.
Online task team established for Cape Town
The Cape Town Master’s Office has launched a new project aimed at addressing concerns relating to appointments.
Rammitlwa said the project had two objectives: to expedite new online appointment matters and to address outstanding online and manually submitted matters.
“The project seeks to address manual and online challenges through the establishment of a universal online task team that will assist with Cape Town’s online backlog, allowing the Cape Town office to focus on manually received estates,” she said.
Rammitlwa added that once the Pretoria office had finalised its relocation, an assessment would be conducted and a practical solution proposed.
Cape Town backlog figure still being updated
Rammitlwa said backlog statistics for the Cape Town office were still being updated, as the backlog remained an “ongoing and moving target”.
The department added that persistent technological difficulties were receiving attention and that a structured upgrade of its infrastructure was underway.
Digital systems under development
In October 2025, Nuusflits reported that Samuel Modipane, the department’s director of communication management, said the recognition of online legal notices formed part of broader efforts to modernise legal processes and improve accessibility.
At the time, the department identified several digital programmes that had already been introduced or were at an advanced stage of development.
These included Deceased Estates Online, which was designed to allow for the online registration, tracking and management of deceased estates, as well as automated verification against Department of Home Affairs and Legal Practice Council records.
The department also identified Trust Online, the Trust Beneficial Ownership Register, Guardian’s Fund Online and Insolvency Online as part of its digital transformation programme.
The department’s latest response indicates that physical filing, manual submissions and unstable network infrastructure continue to affect the daily administration of matters at the Pretoria and Cape Town offices.
