DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

REPORT TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT


JUNE 2003

Introduction

Following is an executive summary of departmental developments and achievements for purposes of review by the Justice Portfolio Committee. For more comprehensive information you will be provided with the various Business Units’ detailed reports.

Court Services

Strategic direction

The year 2002 witnessed a major paradigm shift in the decentralisation from regional offices to Court Services Centres.

A decentralised court services delivery model
The Unit: has, in line with the Department’s vision, developed 10 new high-level strategic goals that will drive the change process over the next three years. Both human and material resources will be channeled towards the realisation of these strategic goals. These goals are the following:

Develop delegations and devolve accountability to the courts

Split the administrative, judicial and prosecutorial processes
Remove the duplication of support services
Gain economies of scale through consolidation of support processes for the Judiciary and prosecuting authority
Redirect resources to areas of need by eradicating duplication, redundancies and inefficiencies in the processes

Transform the justice system
Professionalise the administration of justice
Phase out regional structures.

Enhance the provision of support services to the Judiciary by –
providing the Judiciary with timely, accurate, relevant and responsive administrative, research and information services;
implementing joint strategies to address case backlogs and improve court performance;
mobilising the Judiciary to play an active role in case flow management; and
providing administrative support to the Magistrates’ Commission and the Judicial Services Commission.

Facilitate access to justice for all court users, especially vulnerable groups including women, children, disabled persons and rural communities

The Department will endeavour to facilitate easy access to justice through:
fast-tracking the appointment of Maintenance Officers and Maintenance Investigators to reduce the backlog in maintenance cases;
expanding the Family Courts to all major court centres;
building capacity for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act;
fast-tracking the implementation of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act;
fast-tracking the implementation of the Child Justice Bill and the Childrens’ Bill once enacted;
building new court buildings and upgrading existing ones based on the need to address the unsatisfactory state of courts in previously marginalised areas; and
expanding the establishment of Sexual Offences Courts.

Implement modern technological solutions

Particular emphasis is being placed on the following capability areas:
Improving case management systems and the strategic use of case management information
Improving policy capability to analyse and advise on the impact that court processes have on people and communities
Integrating accountability processes to link the day-to-day activities of all staff to the goals we seek to achieve.

Forge strong strategic alliances with the JCPS and Integrated Justice System (IJS) partners

Facilitate the transformation of the Judiciary by-

striving for a unified Judiciary between high and lower courts;
removing impediments to the independence of the judiciary; and
rationalising the court structure in conjunction with the Chief Justice.


Improve customer care management

This objective aims to –
facilitate coordination between the Judiciary, Prosecution and the Department to be able to deal swiftly and effectively with the problems of case backlogs and maintenance payments;
build effective working relationships with other agencies, particularly those in the justice sector; and
improve interaction with the court customers and in particular the public so as to improve service delivery and to promote confidence in the justice system.

Contribute effectively to policy development

Facilitate the implementation of an integrated court management system
The system is based on the collaborative efforts of key stakeholders involved in case management to ensure that –

the Police Service, Correctional Services, Prosecution, magistrates and judges are involved in case management for an integrated approach to case flow management;
there is minimal opportunity for passing the blame between the different stakeholders for the failures of the justice system;
views and expertise on matters relating to case flow management are exchanged.

Implement an efficient court management information system

Progress towards the realisation of these goals

Re aga boswa

The Business Process Reengineering exercise is being driven by the Re aga boswa ("we are rebuilding") project, but the ideas behind these proposed changes came from the role-players involved in the justice system, mainly the Judiciary, the Prosecution, Police Service and departmental staff. The needs of the community, our strategic objectives of timeliness, quality and judicial support and general objectives of improved effectiveness and efficiency support these ideas.

Re aga boswa is about the design and implementation of the decentralised court support service-operating model, which was approved by the Justice Board in mid 2002. The specific objectives of Project Re aga boswa are to:
build on the decentralised operating model that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has already developed;
develop a detailed organisation and process design for the Court Services Business Unit that covers all aspects of a national, provincial and local organisation, structure and procedures to support a decentralised operating environment for the courts; and
develop a phased implementation approach and detailed plan for operationalising the detailed decentralised design pilot sites, as well as for the national roll-out.

The project aims to implement and operationalise the detailed decentralised design in selected pilot sites.

The project is implemented in two phases, namely the Design Phase which focuses on business process mapping and the development of organisational structures at national and court level, and the implementation phase which entails the piloting of the new Operating Model. The Design Phase was concluded in December 2002 and Implementation commenced on 3 February 2003, and is scheduled to run for three months. The national roll-out is envisaged to commence in August 2003.

The Court Services Report contains, in detail, the New Court Services Business Model and the Court Shared Service Centre Concept.

Milestones and key deliverables
The project has attained major achievements in a number of areas:
The Court structure has been finalised and is being implemented at the pilot site in Durban
A concept of the new Court Shared Service Centre described above has been finalised and will be located temporarily at the Devonshire House where the current KZN Regional Office is located.
A new set of delegations for Court Managers has been compiled, workshopped with selected Court Managers and other relevant role-players for validation purposes and will be submitted shortly to the Director-General and the Minister for approval
All functions within the courts and National Office in Court Services have been redefined and new job profiles have been finalised
Training programmes to empower court functionaries on their new roles have already begun.

The implementation of the new Court Services Delivery model will result in the phasing out of Regional Offices and the re-diversion of resources currently residing at the regional structures to the courts where they are needed most.

Court Managers
The capacitation of the courts is underpinned by the Department’s commitment towards the improvement of the management of courts and the commitment is carried out by accelerating the appointment of professional Court Managers and redefining the role of registrars of courts. Court Managers will take over all accountability for the resource utilisation and facilities management and Registrars would focus solely on case processing, improving the services of the language practitioners in courts, and facilitating the introduction of case-flow management system to assist the judiciary and other role-players in managing the workload effectively.

In the last financial year we have been able to appoint twenty Court Managers and we hope to double the number in this current financial year.

Integrated Case Flow Management System

Integrated Case Flow Management is a project launched in response to the need to deal proactively with the huge backlog of both civil and criminal cases in our courts. This project is part of the Criminal Justice Strengthening Programme and will contribute to the Programme’s objective of streamlining court services to provide modern and efficient administration of justice.

Through this System it is sought to establish a system that will enable all role-players in the case management process to work jointly with a view of coordinating all their planning processes and resources for greater impact and improved service delivery. Case flow management is being strengthened by other projects currently underway such as the Integrated Court Centre Project, the Court Management Information System Project and the Operations Centre.

A Case Flow Management system is being piloted at the Cape Town and Johannesburg High Ccourts, Durban Family Court and Soshanguve Magistrate’s Court.

Vulnerable groups

In general the past year saw further improvement in addressing the needs of vulnerable groups such as women and children.

In this regard it should be noted that the establishment of Sexual Offences Courts have been prioritised and closer interaction in this regard between the NPA and Court Services was effected
40 Sexual Offences Courts have already been established in crisis areas and the training of prosecutors, intermediaries, police officers and magistrates is ongoing
Family courts are receiving focused attention
Maintenance courts are receiving attention and the appointment of maintenance investigators was promoted and more maintenance prosecutors were appointed; fifty two Maintenance Investigators have been appointed at the selected courts countrywide to reduce the maintenance case backlogs and fast-track the process of policy formulation to establish a permanent Maintenance Investigation dispensation in our Maintenance system
The Child Justice Bill is being promoted; consultations to obtain comments and inputs on the Child Justice Bill are ongoing and strategies to divert juvenile offenders from the criminal justice are being drawn
Equality courts are being introduced. The first equality courts will be launched shortly.

Increasing access to justice

Re-demarcation of magisterial districts

As part of the transformation process in government, the Department began examining its functional boundaries in 1994.
Access to courts by all sectors of the population, existing court infrastructure and the need to provide cost-effective court services were the guiding principles in this process.

A Task Team was formed to attend to this alignment and the SAPS boundaries, together with the proposed magisterial district boundaries, were re-examined during a process of consultation with functionaries at ground level to achieve alignment wherever possible.

From this process the Demarcation Board identified approximately 650 instances nationwide where municipal boundaries needed to be amended. These matters are currently being addressed, in consultation with the local authorities concerned.

Another technical matter under investigation is the issue of cross-boundary municipalities. Cabinet took a decision that these must be done away with and this has been delegated to the Municipal Demarcation Board.

Both issues, namely the technical alignment of boundaries as well as the cross- boundary municipalities, will be finalised by the end of June 2003, whereafter the recommendations will be presented to Cabinet for approval so that changes can be proclaimed before the end of September 2003. In order to adequately prepare for the forthcoming elections, no changes to municipal boundaries will be made after September 2003.

Rationalisation of the Courts

Under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice a new Superior Courts Bill is receiving attention in order to rationalise the various high courts in the country and rectify the discrepancies and legacies we inherited in this regard and to bring the court structure in line with the Constitution.

Once the high courts have been dealt with, the lower court structure will receive attention in consultation with the lower court judiciary.

Alteration of the areas of jurisdiction for which high courts have been established
 
The Interim Rationalisation of Jurisdiction of High Courts Act, 2001 (Act No 41 of 2001), has been passed to, among others, enable us, acting after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission, to alter the area of jurisdiction for which a High Court has been established.  The aim of the Act is to promote as a matter of urgency, the efficiency of and equity relating to the administration of justice throughout the whole of the Republic.
 
Regional Court Divisions:  Re-demarcation:
 
Regarding the re-alignment of regional courts, it was previously deemed necessary that the process of the re-demarcation of the magisterial district boundaries, as well as the rationalisation of the high courts needs to be finalised first before the realignment of the Regional Court Division could be finalised.
 
However, in view of the urgency of the matter the Department has decided that there is no reasonable justification to hold back the process any further.  Consequently nine Regional Courts (one per Province) will be established during 2003. There are already such divisions in 7 Provinces, with 2 provinces being serviced from the others. Funds will be allocated during 2003 to now also establish Regional Court President Offices in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces and to ensure proper regional court divisions there.

Civil jurisdiction on regional court level

In principle it has been decided to increase the jurisdiction of the regional courts to include civil matters.

Other matters relating to the judiciary
During 2002, eighteen (18) new judges have been appointed permanently and currently other new appointments are also in the process.

Roll of advocates
During the year under review the Department has managed to consolidate Registers of advocates admitted in the former TBVC States and the former RSA into one Register. We now have one Roll of Advocates.

Small Claims Court Commissioners
Three new Small Claims Courts have been established for the past year in rural areas and a further two during 2003 till now. The establishment of Small Claims Courts is attributable to the voluntary service from commissioners who deserve a word of appreciation for their service to the communities. The Department is attending to problems that are being experienced by commissioners.

The aim is to increase the jurisdiction of the small claims courts during 2003 and announcements in this regard will be made shortly.

The Integrated Justice Court Centre Project (IJ Court Centres)

The IJ Court Centre project is a joint initiative between the Business Unit: Court Services, the National Prosecuting Authority and Business Against Crime. The aim of the project is to improve the way that the criminal justice role-players in the court environment prepare cases for trial and manage dockets and cases at court. The project is an interim semi-automated solution to improving court efficiency, pending the implementation of the fully-automated Court Process Project.

The project has been implemented at 37 district courts.

The greatest impact of the project has been the reduction in case preparation cycle time. The project statistics, which are submitted by each court and monitored on a monthly basis, show that the average case preparation cycle time has declined from 110 to 74 days. Other project gains have been in the area of court hours, which improved on average from 4 hours and one minute to 4 hours 30 minutes, and the number of cases disposed of, which increased on average from 305 to 366 cases per court per month.

Other Initiatives to improve efficiency include:
Court Operations Centre
Management Information System for Courts (Court MIS)
Saturday / Additional Court Project
Lay Assessor System
Language Services
Transformation of Sheriff’s Profession

Facilities
Capital Works

The full amount of R271 138 000 was spent, meaning this was the largest ever amount to be spent on capital works in the Department in a single financial year.

The efficient spending of the new budget for 2003/04 of R229 million in respect of capital works and R35 million in respect of upgrading of infrastructure will be actively pursued.

Delivery
The Department has delivered the following new courts:
Botshabelo, Queenstown, Khayelitsha, Blue Downs, Patensie, Kroonstad, Khutsong, Johannesburg (3 courts), Peddie, Middeldrift.

Mobile courts have been placed at Randburg, Kathlehong, Orlando, Pretoria North, Diepsloot, Westonaria, Odi, Hammanskraal, Vredendal, Tembisa, Mamelodi, Hermanus, Leeu-Gamka, Butterworth and Uitenhage as an interim measure to alleviate pressure on existing facilities and for sexual offences courts

Three additional criminal courts and five judges' chambers in the Palace of Justice for the Pretoria High Court have been refurbished.

New court buildings/additions to existing buildings at Atamelang, Bothithong, Sebokeng, Centane, Tshidilomolomo, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, De Aar, Pretoria North, Benoni, Boksburg, Tembisa and Scottburgh, as well as Atteridgeville and Sasolburg, are in construction.

Fifty-three offices have been identified for the Repair and Maintenance Programme (RAMP), of which the first twenty are in execution.

An amount of R40 million has been spent on furniture, office machines, court recording equipment and sexual offences court systems at courts.

Apart from the continuation of ongoing building projects to be overseen, the acquisition of sites, briefing of architects and actual planning of major projects such as Madadeni (new building), Ekangala (new building), Daveyton (additional accommodation), Thabong (community safety centre), Ntuzuma (new building) and Polokwane High Court (conversion and refurbishment) are to be attended to.

Security management

During 2002/03 amounts of R40 million and R18 million were allocated respectively for security services and were divided into various projects, including:
Guarding services; Protection of the Judiciary; cash in transit; supply and installation of security equipments, security fence and lighting.

The total number of offices that requires to be installed with security measures is in the region of 700, but only ±200 offices are secured at this stage.

A security audit is almost in its final draft stage and will be finalised at the end of May 2003. In this report, all the shortcomings regarding court security will be identified and the recommended solutions will be translated into security plans that will seek to address these problems.

South African Law Reform Commission

The South African Law Reform Commission, with the able assistance of its secretariat, was able to consider and finalise three issue papers, dealing with sexual offences with specific reference to adult prostitution, consolidated legislation pertaining to international cooperation in civil matters, and protected disclosures. Seven reports containing legislative proposals were also finalised. These reports dealt with the following topical issues:
Sexual offences
Review of the Child Care Act, 1983
Simplification of the criminal procedure with specific reference to a more inquisitorial approach to criminal procedure and out of court settlements in criminal cases
Terrorism
Publication of divorce proceedings
Traditional courts and the judicial powers of traditional leaders.

Legal Advisory Services

The Legal Advisory Services Unit was established as a result of the management decision by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to adopt a corporate model, by subdividing into a number of strategic business unit. It was the Department’s decision that all legal services should be centralised in one division, to be known as Legal Advisory Services.

Successes/Achievements in 2002/3

The restructuring processes are well under way to achieve the goals set out above. Many meetings were held with all units and we can now report that the whole division is firmly under the control and supervision of the Chief State Law Adviser and all units report to him.

Annual General Meeting

The Office of the Chief State Law Adviser held its first Annual General Meeting in Durban during the latter part of August 2002. The meeting enabled the Chief State Law Adviser to report to the Division as a whole and also to their clients. Ways of improving our services, reducing costs, difficulties and accountability of state lawyers were discussed, among others. Commissions were set up and six task teams were appointed to investigate and report on a wide variety of issues. The task teams are in the process of finalising their reports, whereafter another meeting will be held to unpack the reports and decide on the way forward.

Legislative Drafting Unit: A dedicated legislative drafting unit has been established to peruse, develop, draft, scrutinise and certify all legislation and regulations. The Unit has embarked on a training initiative and 53 officials from other departments have received training to date. The key objective is to reduce costs and the state’s dependence on private legislative drafters.

Constitutional Litigation Unit: The establishment of this Unit has been approved and we are in the process to fill the positions. Tenders have recently closed for the appointment of a head for the Unit.

Translation Services Unit: The objective is to translate English versions of Bills into other official languages. Recommendations have been made to establish the Unit. At present there is one person in the Unit, but steps are under way to fill the posts as soon as funds are available.

Inter-office cooperation: The Johannesburg, Pretoria, Mafikeng and Thohoyandou offices of the State Attorney organised themselves in a cluster and meet regularly to discuss matters of mutual concern, allocate work among themselves and redistribute resources. The Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Bisho offices organised themselves in a cluster with similar objectives.

Briefing of State Law Advisers: The state attorneys now brief state law advisers to render opinions to client-departments (with their consent), which would normally be outsourced, to private counsel.

Creation of a Strategic Support Unit: A strategic support unit has been established to assist the Chief State Law Adviser in the day-to-day management of the Unit, the coordination of services amongst the sub-unit, and the facilitation of communication between the Chief State Law Adviser and office managers.

Executive Board: An executive board consisting of all office heads has been established to discuss issues of concern, adopts policies, give guidance and implement all necessary steps to enhance the image of the Division.

2. Benchmarking/Specialisation

In today’s global competitive market, corporate business units must be flexible and productive to meet the challenge of global competition. There is a need for the Unit to expand its services to include the following:

Constitutional Litigation Unit
Translation Unit
Modernisation / Automation

Masters of the High Court

The Business Unit of the Masters of the High Court has the following strategic goals:

To revise the Organisational Structure of the Masters to ensure efficient and effective administration and control; providing safeguards against corruption and mismanagement and establishing a new support structure for the Master’s Division.

To separate all administrative and legal work processes; create an environment of specialisation of functions; develop and sharpen the special skills and expertise of the Masters through constant training and evaluation and harness these skills to combat crime, corruption and maladministration.

To improve policy development within the Unit and through planning, evaluation and research, review the processes of administration of estates with the aim of streamlining and simplifying these procedures and creating uniformity of systems, procedures and practices, thus providing a more efficient, cost-effective and user-friendly service.

To broaden and make the services of the Masters more accessible and convenient to all sectors of the South African Population and the global economy by, inter alia, maximising the use of Information Technology.

To develop a disciplined, motivated workforce and improve the image of the Masters with the general public and the professional fraternity and promote and maintain the principles of Batho Pele by actually practicing it on a daily basis.

To promote the concept of self-funding and income generating by adopting a business approach and offering the range of services.

To forge close working relationships and partnerships with role-players in order to monitor and improve service delivery on a consistent basis.

To act proactively to meet the demands of the future such as initiating changes to accommodate Black Intestate Estates, the Cross-Border Insolvency Act, the Access to Information Act, Empowerment Legislation, etc.

Progress towards the realisation of these goals

In working towards the attainment of these goals, the following steps have been taken and implemented:

1. The restructuring of the Master into specialised divisions has been implemented in some of the offices. Where it has not been implemented, it has already reached an advanced stage and will be implemented within the next few months. It is expected that by the end of the current year all the Masters would have specialised. This would greatly improve service delivery within the Unit. It is expected that specialisation will have a phenomenal impact on the quality on the services being provided by the offices.

2. Intensive efforts are also being made to improve the service delivery in the Curatorship section.

3. In terms of the organistional structure it has been decided to de-link the Assistant Masters rank from that of Estate Controllers. This will ensure a proper and a particular path of these ranks and enhance the professional status of the Masters.


4. In so far as making the services of the Master more accessible to the public, Magistrates’ Offices throughout the country have been designated as service points where the services of the Master are made available to the public. The unit is currently engaging HR to conduct a work study at the service points in order to determine the workload at the service points for the creation of posts.


The Moseneke Project

The Mvelediso Project

This project addresses the consequences of the Moseneke judgment. The implementation of the Moseneke Judgment has made the services of the Masters more accessible to all the members of the public. Various Magistrates’ Offices throughout the country have been designated as service points where Masters’ Services are made available to the public. This unit is currently engaging HR to conduct a work study at the service points in order to determine the workload for the creation of posts.

Decentralised courses to train Magistrates' Offices personnel, as well as our personnel on the implementation of the Moseneke decision have been ongoing since January 2003.

Opening of sub-offices

New offices have been secured in the following areas:
Port Elizabeth; Durban; Johannesburg; and Polokwane.

Appointment of liquidators

The Masters Business unit is developing a policy document on the appointment of liquidators. The primary objective of the discussion document is to guide the Masters in effecting transformation in the appointment of liquidators.

The Business Unit has adopted an interventionist approach to the appointment of liquidators. In this regard the Unit intervened in the 711 liquidation in the Western Cape, as well as the Tygon matter in KwaZulu-Natal. The net result was that liquidators who would otherwise not have been appointed, was indeed appointed.

Fraud and corruption

In an attempt to root out fraud and corruption in the Guardian’s fund the Masters Business Unit has arranged with the Department of Home Affairs to verify identity document details, as well as to provide training on how to take fingerprints. Applications for payments are forwarded to Pretoria, where an officer verifies the information supplied with the records of the Department of Home Affairs. This process is already under way and is running smoothly.

Computerisation

The programme: Master’s Office Administration System (MOAS), which entails the computerisation of the Master’s Offices throughout the country includes the
Guardian’s Fund, Master’s Administration System for Estates, Trusts and Insolvencies (MASETI), as well as the Website, among others.

Capacity constraints

The capacity constraints facing the Masters are the following:

Personnel
Technology
Accommodation
Equipment and Furniture
Funding


Regional Cooperation

During the year under review, the Business Unit was overwhelmed with the interest shown by African countries and SADC countries, in particular to follow the South African version of the Administration of estates. We held bilateral Commission discussions with Lesotho in this regard. A visit to/by Namibia and Botswana are also eminent. To us as a business unit, this move is very encouraging as it is in line with objectives of African Union and NEPAD.


Issues previously raised by the Office of the Auditor-General and SCOPA

Reconciliation of the PMG Accounts

In terms of an instruction from National Treasury dated 3rd July 1998, the PMG account of the South African Reserve Bank was phased out on 31st January 1999. This resulted in separate Current Accounts being opened with Commercial Banks with effect from 1st February 1999.

The Transvaal and Eastern Cape Funds, however, had outstanding balances in their PMG accounts at the date of transfer - financial year 2000/01 R3 982 416, and R2 268 respectively whilst 1999/00 - R4 021 362 and R11 644 respectively.

Progress to-date
Work-in-progress. A team is currently reconciling these accounts.

Rationalisation/ Centralisation of the Guardian’s Fund

The Rationalisation of the Administration of Estates Act. This is in respect of the Administration of the Estate Laws Interim Rationalisation Bill, 2001, which was passed by Parliament on 28th June 2001 to make the principal Act applicable throughout South Africa, by extending the operation of the Act to the former TBVC states and by repealing the corresponding laws that were applicable at the time.

Coastal Areas

The Task Team responsible for the rationalisation has just completed their tasks for coastal areas (Eastern Cape) and have identified shortages in the fund amounting to R9 460 674 as follows:


Office

Shortage

Capital

Interest

Total

Umtata

R 2 925 849

R 2 988 449

R 5 914 298

Bisho

R 1 810 764

R 1 735 612

R 3 546 376

TOTAL

R 4 736 613

R 4 724 061

R 9 460 674


The Grahamstown Office, where the regional fund is centralised, is awaiting a decision from Management at National Office to give direction regarding the deficit (shortages). This deficit is a constitutional matter and the DOJ&CD should make good this account as it would be unconstitutional by the Government to treat minors in the former TBVC states in a manner that prejudices these minors in comparison to their former RSA counterparts.

This is a very serious and urgent matter, as the Grahamstown Office is inundated with calls to pay out moneys that have become claimable, but cannot do so due to the uncertainty regarding the source of funding to off-set the deficit.

Inland Areas

The fund has is in the process of being centralised at the Pretoria Office. The Task Team is currently dealing with the matters relating to the Mafikeng (Mmabatho) and Thohoyandou Offices.

Reconciliation of funds invested with the PIC

During the 2000/01 financial year the PIC confirmed the 2 investments with the PIC namely: the Guardian’s Fund Main Account => balance R837 199 (1999/00: R748 400) and the Guardian’s Fund Reserve Fund => balance R12 579 828 (1999/00: R9 321 161). These amounts had not been accounted for in the books of the Business unit: Master of the High Court.

Progress to-date
Meetings to resolve this matter are currently taking place between the Master’s Business Unit, the Office of the CFO and PIC as an on-going process.

SARS Account

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICES (SARS)
In terms of section 92 of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965, those moneys in the fund that have remained unclaimed by the persons entitled thereto, for a period of thirty (30) years from the date that such funds became legally claimable must be forfeited to the state and paid over to the SARS.

In addition to these moneys, there are other moneys such as commission and non-commission moneys relating, for instance, to liquidations etc collected on behalf of the state which are payable to the SARS.

Basis of qualification: Due to the ineffective accounting (manual) system in place, it was not possible to adequately identify all moneys payable to SARS.

Progress to-date
Work-in-progress. There are ongoing discussions between the Business Unit: Master of the High Court and SARS. It was recently agreed that the process be postponed until the computerisation of the Guardian’s Fund has reached an advanced level, which will provide an effective system of identify all such moneys payable to SARS.