Dealing with corruption at Masters' Office not 'child's play', says Department of Justice DG

Fighting corruption at the troubled Masters' Office is not child's play, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development director-general Doc Mashabane told Parliament on Wednesday. He told of a serious pushback after steps had been taken against several officials, including a former acting chief master, who resigned, citing ill-health, before her disciplinary process was concluded.

The department and the Masters' Office briefed the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on Wednesday on their turnaround plan for the office.

In April, following an investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the department placed 13 senior managers and other officials on precautionary suspensions, pending the outcome of investigations into allegations of financial irregularities and maladministration in the affairs of the office.

Mashabane said disciplinary processes following the SIU report was ongoing, and they were still within legally prescribed timeframes.

He added the Master of the Pretoria High Court resigned after disciplinary proceedings were instituted against her, citing poor health, and they accepted it. They have started a process to look for a Master of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

While Mashabane did not name her, the former Master of Pretoria was Penelope Roberts, who also acted as chief master.

Current acting chief master advocate Kanyane Mathibe said 14 Masters' officials have been charged with various contraventions, including intimidation, following from the SIU report and internal investigations.

"Disciplinary hearings are actively under way for these individuals. Among the charged officials, one has already been found guilty and was summarily dismissed," read her presentation.

"Another official was also found guilty and received a sanction of a three-month suspension without pay however, the department has also filed additional charges against the official. The disciplinary process for these outstanding charges is set to begin in the month of September 2024.

"One SMS [senior management service] official resigned with immediate effect two days before their scheduled disciplinary hearing."

The office developed a tip-off line for corruption and bribery allegations which will be available for both internal staff and external clients to report officials or external parties involved in corrupt activities related to Masters' services.

It will be launched in the final week of September.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said Corruption at the Masters' Office was a massive problem, adding she wanted "a lot more detail" about the Pretoria Master.

She asked if the official who got a three-month suspension without pay returned to work, asking:

And then you do what, carry on being corrupt?

ANC MPs Oscar Mathafa and Tshiamo Tshotetsi were also concerned about corruption and asked what measures were put in place to prevent it.

Mashabane said the previous Chief Master left in March, and Roberts then served as Chief Master until March this year, when she was placed on precautionary suspension, based on a whistleblower's report.

She was allegedly involved in the unlawful appointment of a liquidator the court declared unfit and improper.  

Their report was finalised, disciplinary charges preferred, and the matter would have proceeded last week, but then they got the resignation letter, citing ill-health, and they accepted the resignation.

City Press reported in April Roberts was suspended after being implicated in the appointment of Enver Motala as a liquidator.

News24's investigations reported in October last year about Motala's appointment, despite being removed from the roll of liquidators in 2011.

Motala was removed from the panel of liquidators after it emerged he had changed his surname from Dawood in an apparent attempt to hide a 1978 conviction for credit card fraud - and, when he was questioned under oath about this, he lied.

He also failed to declare a major conflict of interest in the politically charged liquidation of the Pamodzi Mining group.

"Fighting corruption in the Masters' Office is not child's play," said Mashabane. "It is a challenge, a long bumpy road ahead."

He added just when they took action against those identified in wrongdoing, they were subjected to pressure from people outside the organisation.

Mashabane said it was not only Masters officials involved in the corruption, adding:

It's high, high level of involvement of people from outside. And particularly when it comes to issues of liquidation.

He added they got serious pushback from these people, who were so brazen they wrote to the department making their identities known.

Mashabane told the police it was intimidation, saying:

You can't expect us to manage and administer the department, and people from outside can just write and say why are you suspending our comrade, what are you doing and so on and so forth when we have a report from the SIU.

Responding to Breytenbach's question about the official who was suspended without pay for three months, Mathibe said the official was suspended for a matter completely different from those identified in the SIU report.

The chairperson of the disciplinary committee found the official guilty of serious misconduct and sanctioned him to a three-month suspension without pay.

"Because of the seriousness of the transgressions, as it relates to insolvency matters, we have resolved to take it on review.

"But there were additional charges, that were then presented to us in the form of the SIU report that we then preferred against the same individual. So, he remains on suspension, he has not come back to work," said Mathibe.

"The insolvency process is where members of our staff are most susceptible to bribery and corruption. We are moving towards an online system in this instance and where it happens in insolvency is issues where we appoint practitioners to deal with insolvent estates.

"This is where there could be interference with the process where a practitioner may then approach a Masters official to make an appointment in their favour."

She said with an online system, the appointment would be determined by criteria in terms of legislation and their regulations.

The organisation has been without a chief master for about 18 months now.

Mashabane said the post was advertised last year, and a panel, including a minister and two deputy ministers as required, did not consider the candidates suitable.

Filling the post has then been complicated the Department of Public Service and Administration's requirement not to fill senior posts six months before an election.

Apart from corruption, the Masters' Office are hamstrung by issues like long queues, unreliable and slow systems, loss of documents and poor infrastructure.

Breytenbach was not convinced the picture the office presented to the committee did justice to the actual situation.

She said she received hundreds of emails and WhatApps a week from ordinary South Africans and practitioners "about the chaos that reigns there" and nobody wanted to complain too loudly, afraid their matter would never be dealt with.

FF Plus MP Heloïse Denner welcomed the turnaround plan but agreed with Breytenbach.

He said:

However, chair, I don't think that the progress that has been presented here to us today, completely corresponds with the experience of people on the ground measured against the number of complaints we receive on a daily basis with regards to the Masters' Offices.

ANC MPs were generally positive about the turnaround plan.

EFF MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane, participating in the committee a year to the day after the National Assembly resolved to remove her as Public Protector, was concerned about the impact of the malaise at the Masters' Office's on the general public.

"The public would want to experience the Masters' Office and when they go there don't stand in the queue and your matter is processed expediently," she said.