Cape Town Master’s Office in disarray
“There are fifteen offices nationwide. If three of them are functioning normally at any given time, that’s a miracle”
Most people may never heard of the Master of the High Court but at some point in time, most of us will have to interact with it, whether wealthy or poor. When a loved one dies, it needs to be reported to one of fifteen Master’s offices in the country which ensure that the deceased’s assets are distributed to the right people. In some cases a will or testament facilitates who gets what.
So when GroundUp received a complaint from a member of the public about an alleged backlog of cases at the Master of the High Court office in Cape Town, we investigated.
Following an article we published on the backlog of overdue judgments at the Western Cape High Court, Nicci Botha claimed that there were “thousands of cases” at the Master’s office that could not be wound up due to lost documents.
Her sister’s estate is one.
Botha, says she’s been waiting for more than a year for a Liquidation and Distribution letter to finalise her sister’s estate, which she says is a relatively simple one to wind up. According to the Administration of Estates Act, this process should take six months after a letter of executorship is issued. Botha says the letter was issued in April 2017, after her sister’s death on 15 February the same year.
Botha was told by the executor for her sister’s estate that the office had lost the documents in her file. The executor had sent countless emails and calls to the Master’s office to follow up on the matter with minimal response.
When GroundUp arrived at the offices on Tuesday, 3 September to investigate, we left without any concrete answers. The Master of the High Court, Zureena Agulhas, was unavailable and her secretary redirected us to Sizakele Mbewana, a deputy master of the High Court, who was also absent from his office. We were then prompted to speak to Sanele Nqabeni, a senior state accountant, who told us that he wasn’t authorised to speak to the media, yet the office did not have a spokesperson.
We then followed up with email enquiries to Agulhas and Mbewana with no response. Agulhas’ office number was called multiple times but the phone just rang. An email was sent to the Acting Chief Master of the High Court Theresia Bezuidenhout who forwarded our query to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s media team. There was no response thereafter.
Aaron Roup, the National Councillor and Secretary for the Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (FISA), says that there are issues in all the Master’s offices in the country.
“There are fifteen offices nationwide. If three of them are functioning normally at any given time, that’s a miracle,” said Roup.
He flagged the Pretoria, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town Master’s offices as some of the worst performing in the country.
“That is known from the view of the practitioners. It is known from the view of the general public. It is also known by the Acting Chief Master and she’s pulling her hair out in that respect.” (The Acting Chief Master said she was unable to answer our queries.)
FISA is the only professional body and non-profit organisation that represents fiduciary practitioners in Southern Africa. It sets minimum standards for the industry and works closely with the Master’s Office and SARS. Fiduciary practitioners take care of money or other assets for people.
Botha and Roup pinpointed understaffing issues as a cause of the chaos at the Cape Town office.
“They are under pressure in terms of deliverables, with no staff filling the vacant positions … The one rumour is that there is no money to pay for the salaries for those positions. The other story is that there is budget, but they haven’t found the right people. So again, my view of it is that they are just simply making excuses to not deliver at the end of the day,” said Roup.
The Master of the High Court falls under the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. There is a Master’s office in each provincial division of the High Court of South Africa and it has five main duties: the administration of deceased estates, liquidations, administration of the guardian’s fund, protecting the interests of minors, and the registration and supervision of trusts.
If a person has died and left behind property or a will, this becomes a deceased estate which must be administered and distributed to the relevant persons by the Master’s office in the area where the person was living 12 months before their death.
The deceased’s assets such as bank accounts are frozen, meaning dependents or family members cannot access the funds until the estate has been reported and processed by the Master’s office. The longer it takes for the deceased estate to be wound up, the longer dependents of deceased people are at risk of being left without money.
“The saddest part is that there are families who are dependent on the loved one’s estate being finalised, so that they can get on with their lives,” said Botha, who is still waiting for her sister’s affairs to be wrapped up.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the article had the wrong sex for Botha. Our apologies.
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Letters
Dear Editor
My experience with the Master's Office in Cape Town has not been a positive one. All I want to do is wrap up my mother's affairs. She passed away last year. The other side to this is that I am being harassed by debt collectors because obviously, they want their money. But I cannot do anything without an LOA and instructions from the office. My mother cannot rest in peace with such drama. It is terrible.
Dear Editor
My brother was murdered in KZN. He died without a Last Will and Testament in place. The nightmare with the High Court almost drove me to my grave. Every visit resulted in another list of legal requirements. SAPS classified the murder as politically motivated and refused to investigate despite witnesses and an identikit of the murderer whom today still has my brother's Glock 19 on his hip.
We are on our own against the ANC cabal. Get your affairs in order. Seek assistance to include a living Will and take care out there. We are not protected and SARS wants every last drop of your blood.
Dear Editor
After waiting six months for the Master to sign a Section 42(2) application, I went to find out for myself what the delay could've been in this process. Although I have proof that all of my documents were received by the Master's office, I was told by one of the clerks that there's no record of my documents.
My lawyer submitted new documents as requested by them only to be told that they can't find or my locate my file. I sent an email to the Master three weeks ago and until now I haven't received any reply from her. It seems that no one is taking responsibility for lost documents.
This is quite a problem to me as I'm in the process of buying my parent's property from the deceased's estate. The only hold up now is the signature on the above-mentioned section.
I'm at my wits' end and don't know how to tackle this issue.
Dear Editor
The master office cannot answer why the Master and Mr Parker who works in the master's office, appointed lawyer Shanaaz Karbry in 2013 to be our executor on my late father's estate because we as the heirs did not nominate him.
In 2014, we appointed another attorney Mr Tobin with so much bitternes we removed him after many attempts and meetings at masters office showing how an executor is a director and trustee. We confronted the office showing the wrong doing and what the estate act says about this. The Masters Office is a public office but our rights are being undermind. I'm looking for advise or a good lawyer who can assist me but its very hard to find the right attorney with good attention and not corrupt agendas.
Dear Editor
I have contacted the Masters Office (Mr Mbewana) requesting why I was removed as executor of my late fathers estate, without me being contacted or notified. I'm still waiting for the Masters office to forward the file, to understand why I was removed. But more importantly I need to know how I get reinstated as executor, it's been 18 months and I need to get the estate wound up.
I am the sole heir, how do I get the file and reinstated as executor?
Dear Editor
I've been waiting since November 2019 just to get a Letter Of Executorship from the Master. The entire process has not even been able to kick off for almost 7 months because of one letter. The service is terrible and the lack of commitment to help families wrap up estates is palpable.
Dear Editor
My ex-husband and I had a will together, which stayed that way until he died. The Master's Office in Cape Town has all the documents. It has been 10 years since his death. I have sent them numerous emails for the past five years but still have not heard a word.
This is unacceptable. I am the only beneficiary in our will. By the time I receive my inheritance, I'm sure I will have passed away myself!
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