Government printers ‘printing’ again

Re-automation projected completed the day before contempt of court hearing.

The Government Printing Works (GPW) can now print all three legal gazettes as it has been mandated, and ordered by the courts, to do.

A day before being dragged back to court for contempt of a 2021 court order, the government printers sent a notice to stakeholders (on 19 November) saying the “e-Gazette re-automation project has completed the automation of all legal gazettes”. This means the gazettes should now be available and accessible to all stakeholders.

ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW Read: Insolvency practitioners fed up with delays at Government Printing Works [Jun 2024] Government Printing Works back in court over delays in publishing legal gazettes [Nov 2024] Saripa now wants home affairs minister and government printer CEO jailed [Nov 2024]

The South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (Saripa) sought an urgent interdict to hold the GPW CEO, the minister, and the director-general of home affairs in contempt of court and have them sentenced to prison.

In 2021, the court ordered the GPW to fulfil its mandate, which is to ensure that its three legal gazettes (A, B and C) are published every Friday without interruption or delay.

Lack of urgency

The contempt of court application was heard last Wednesday but was struck from the roll for want of urgency. Judge Brenda Neukircher held that the application was premature, as the GPW had “implemented measures to ensure complete compliance” by the end of November 2024.

Saripa chief operating officer René Bekker said the judge acknowledged that the GPW was not adhering to its mandate or the 2021 court order, resulting in prejudice to Saripa members and the public.

After the proceedings, Saripa received a letter from the government printers confirming that the re-automation project for the e-Gazette System had now been completed.

“We are cautiously optimistic but will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Bekker said in a notice to members.

“Should further failures occur, our legal advice is to file a supplementary affidavit and enrol the matter for hearing with a request that the matter be referred for oral evidence.”

The GPW requested costs on Scale C (the highest of three levels), but no order as to costs was made.

The court held that the matter fell within the Biowatch principle, which “clarifies that public interest litigants acting in good faith will not have to fear that costs will be awarded against them”.

Decline in service

Saripa said there had been a significant decline in service from the GPW since September this year. Bekker described it as not only “unacceptable but also alarming and deeply troubling”.

ADVERTISEMENT: CONTINUE READING BELOW

The Legal A gazette – which affects the work of Saripa’s 630 insolvency and business rescue practitioners, attorneys, and tax consultants – contains court orders, business notices, general notices, and Insolvency Act notices.

“The GPW’s failure to fulfil their duties places South African citizens in a precarious situation. Importantly, without the required publications, courts cannot grant sequestration or winding-up orders, as first meetings of creditors cannot be convened, and liquidation and distribution accounts cannot be published,” Bekker said.

She added that the GPW’s inefficiency also hampers the Master of the High Court’s ability to perform essential duties, such as arranging first meetings of creditors.

“Insolvency practitioners are similarly impacted, as they cannot proceed with necessary publications for subsequent meetings or distribute funds until accounts are published, and notification periods have elapsed.”

Read:
Service delivery failures at masters’ offices impact the economy [Sept 2022]
Lawyers fed up with shambolic Master’s Offices [Oct 2023]
DoJ’s rescue plan for the Master’s Office [Nov 2023]

Executors of deceased estates have been experiencing huge delays because of system failures, not only from the GPW but also from the offices of the Master of the High Court and the Department of Home Affairs. A simple estate that used to take six to nine months to wind up can now take anything from 18 months to three years.

Complaints against the master’s offices increased dramatically following the Covid-19 pandemic. Louis van Vuren, CEO of the Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (Fisa), says they are keeping track of complaints from their members. Complaints are only escalated to the chief master once all internal efforts have been exhausted.

Source: Fisa

Follow Moneyweb’s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.