The stories coming out of one of SA’s most indispensable legal institutions almost strain credulity. They include sunrise queues snaking around the block, a ‘runners’ mafia’ dedicated to queue jumping, senior officials on leave for months at a time and operations suspended for Valentine’s Day celebrations.

For years, the Cape Town Master’s Office has been the cornerstone of estate administration, trust registrations and curatorships in SA. However, for law firm employees and frustrated members of the public, it is now a disaster zone.

The Daily Maverick reports that the backlogs are staggering, corruption appears rife, and a new online system touted as transformative progress is constantly down.

‘I have been practising as such for over 30 years, and the Master’s Office has never been in such complete disarray as the past few years,’ says Annaliese Lubowski, director of Alcock & Associates law firm.

The Master’s Office is a little-known but critical institution because it is responsible for the administration of all wills and trusts.

Queues outside the Cape Town Master’s Office now start before dawn.

If you are not in line by 5am, you have no chance of securing one of the coveted 50 spots available per day to law firms to get their matters seen to.

Routine administrative actions that should take a week or so can run on for months, or even years: one lawyer said it takes more than two years to change the trustees in a trust.

One reason for the delays is that crucial documents go ‘missing’ or are misplaced in offices.

Lubowski cited a particularly tragic case in which a frail, dying man cannot access funds for his healthcare because his estate matters are tangled in the Master’s Office backlog after the suicide of his spouse.

His only financial relief would come from the sale of a jointly owned property, but the Master’s Office delays mean he may not live to see it finalised.

The Master of the Cape Town High Court, Zureena Agulhas, did not respond to DM’s questions this week.

Full Daily Maverick report