A Deputy Master at the High court in Mbombela, Bina Masuku who was arrested in November last year for allegedly siphoning off R1.7m from people seeking help with deceased estates, appears to be the tip of the iceberg of problems at Master’s offices who deal with estates, the Guardian’s Fund, trusts and insolvency. In another instance, 45 000 files at the Master in Pretoria is said to have gone missing. There are also several complaints against the Acting Chief Master Theresia Bezuidenhout who is accused of interfering in disciplinary cases against Deputy-Masters and of irregular expenses. At the end of last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the Special Investigation Unit a year to investigate the allegations which lead to the countrywide closure of all Master’s offices for two days last week during which the SIU raided and seized desktops and laptops it had identified as necessary for the investigations. Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said he wanted to close all the loopholes that currently existed and restore offices that work for minors, orphans and widows. The investigation has been welcomed by insolvency practitioners. RenĂ© Bekker, the Chief Operating Officer at the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA) told Alec Hogg that working with the master’s offices around the country was a challenge. – Linda van Tilburg
René Bekker, the Chief Operating officer of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association said the investigation would be into corruption, fraud and maladministration and the association particularly welcomed the fact that there was an emphasis on maladministration. She said there were fifteen Master’s offices in the country and they had a big responsibility dealing with the insolvency division, the deceased estates division, trust curatorships and the Guardians’ fund. Investigating everything, she said would be a mammoth task. Bekker said her association had to work with the Master on a daily basis and from the information that she received, was that it was very challenging and SARIPA was very excited that it was being looked into.
She said it would appear that each of the 15 masters decided on its own way of doing things. The Judicial Matters Amendment Act of 2005 introduced the post of Chief Master; and the post is  currently being occupied by an acting Chief Master. But the amendment ACT only makes provision for the administration of deceased estates. In dealing with insolvency, it would appear that the authority of the Chief Master is not acknowledged; therefore, each office has adopted its own practice. Giving an example, Bekker said that all the offices adopted the practice of not sending notices to creditors for a second meeting by registered post except for the office in Durban, who did send it out. She said according to her association using registered post was not in line with the Insolvency Act, read with the Companies Act. It was an added burden and with post offices facing huge challenges it made it even more difficult.
Asked whether the investigation was likely to find corruption, graft or stealing, Bekker did not want to speculate. She said she had not seen the investigation and had only read in the media that President Ramaphosa had given the investigation a year and the association was waiting for the results of that. Bekker said her association would assist in every possible as it was in the interest of their members that the master’s offices were aligned and were working properly.
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