The Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe, MP, today, officially opened the newly built Pietermaritzburg Master of the High Court Building as part of providing access to justice services for all. This is intended to ensure that services will be rendered more efficiently at that office.
The event is a follow up to the Minister’s visit which took place in November 2010, as part of the Public Participation programme. During that time, the Minister visited the office of the Master of the High Court in Pietermaritzburg in order to engage with community members with regards to the services rendered at the office as well as to assess service delivery challenges. The visit revealed some service delivery challenges related to customer service, infrastructure, and turnaround times in the finalisation of matters and fraud and corruption.
As a response to these challenges, the event will showcase various interventions that have been put in place in order to effectively deal with the challenges identified at that office. These interventions include the construction of the new building (fitted with all the necessary equipment), introduction of the new technological system, mainstreaming the list of insolvency practitioners and liquidators, as well as the anti-fraud and corruption measures.
Previously, services at the Master’s Office in Pietermaritzburg used to be run from two separate buildings, which often led to delays in the administration of matters brought before the court and further caused confusion among members of the public. The newly constructed building will accommodate all the services rendered by the Master of the High Court, making it easier for the public to register their matters and receive services in an efficient way.
The Master is responsible for the supervision and administration of the deceased estates. In addition, that office is responsible for the following matters: administration of insolvent estates of both natural and juristic persons; registration of trusts; administration of curatorship; as well as the administration of the Guardian’s Fund.
The building has the capacity to accommodate staff complement of 160, thereby allowing for more people to be deployed for assistance at the critical areas thus enhancing service delivery.
The Master’s service, which caters for vulnerable people, is one of the departmental priorities during the 2011/2012 financial year. By focusing on building capacity of that office, the department wants to demonstrate in a more practical way, its commitment towards accessibility and efficiency, especially to the vulnerable and the poor communities.
As part of our drive to accelerate customer service, we are currently conducting service delivery improvement training for the front-line staff for the Pietermaritzburg office through the Justice College with specific focus on the ground-level interaction and activities. Similar kind of training is being conducted in the 402 Masters’ service points countrywide. A service charter, which outlines service delivery standards, has been adopted to build a service culture which is responsive to the needs of the people.
An intervention task team was set up last year in order to fast-track and to attend to all outstanding matters, including backlogs. The task team has introduced various measures aimed at dealing with the volume of backlogs at the courts. This saw a high number of matters being finalised and the rightful beneficiaries paid their dues. In addition, an Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) has been introduced to manage the storage and access to the files handled at the Master’s offices. The system is used to scan documents and to track progress of any registered claim. Through the system, members of the public are able to check online whether their estates have been registered with the Master of the High Court.
In our continued effort to deal with fraud and corruption, we have introduced and installed a MOVIT (Master’s Own Verification Identity Technology) system which uses a fingerprint to verify and confirm the identity of the beneficiaries. The system is linked to the Department of Home Affairs. Furthermore, we continue to encourage beneficiaries to collect their cheques at our offices instead of depositing them directly into their bank accounts. This will reduce if not minimise the chance and the opportunity for unscrupulous officials to have monies deposited into fraudulently opened bank accounts. We continue to work closely with all law enforcement agencies in order to ensure that all those who commit fraud and corruption face the consequences of the choices they make.
There are 14 Masters’ offices throughout the country (one in each centre where there is a High Court) and all Magistrates offices (402) have been designated as service points of the Masters, although the jurisdiction of these service points is limited to deceased estates worth R50 000 or less.
This has to be seen as an effort by the Department intended to dispense services in an efficient manner, whilst at the same time striving to ensure that there is access to justice for all.
For enquiries:
Tlali Tlali
Cell: 082 333 3880
Minister Radebe officially opens the refurbished Pietermaritzburg Master’s Office
