For ‘willfully’ disobeying a 2021 court order that the Government Printing Works do its job and fulfil its mandate.
It is more than three years since the Johannesburg High Court ordered the Government Printing Works (GPW) to do its job. However, this has not happened.
The South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (Saripa) has now again approached the courts. This time it has brought an urgent application to hold the GPW CEO as well as the minister and director-general of home affairs in contempt of court and have them sentenced to prison.
The matter was heard on Wednesday (20 November).
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.
ALSO READ: Government Printing Works back in court over delays in publishing legal gazettes
Service levels have dropped
Saripa COO René Bekker says in court documents there has been a significant decline in service from the GPW since September that is not only “unacceptable but also alarming and deeply troubling”.
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,” says Bekker.
“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.”
She adds 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.”
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‘Willfully disobedient’
Bekker says GPW is wilfully disobedient – and that this is evident from its ability to publish the Legal B and C gazettes every Friday, while the Legal A gazettes are published two weeks or more after the due date.
Source: Saripa
“There are no legitimate reasons or justification for their failure to publish all required gazettes every Friday, which reflects a reckless disregard for their obligations under the court order and the Constitution,” says Bekker.
“This failure brings the administration of justice into disrepute.”
When notices do not appear in the Government Gazette and are only published at a later date, the notices in the newspapers must be republished. These notices range between R200 and R5 000 per advert.
ALSO READ: Negligence, mismanagement blamed for server crash, data loss at Government Printing Works
GPW has tried to do its job, says CEO
GPW CEO Alinah Fosi says in her answering affidavit that Saripa is “always quick to rush to court or threaten court applications whenever there is a failure or delay in publishing legal gazettes, even when it is only a few”.
Fosi says the GPW has made “sterling efforts” to remedy the situation with both short- and long-term solutions. This includes moving from electronic platforms to manual processes when there are failures.
Another initiative saw the appointment of a ministerial review panel by former home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi to look “more deeply” into the challenges facing the GPW.
Fosi says that given all the efforts and initiatives embarked upon, it cannot be said that GPW has been willfully disobedient or refused to provide services.
“Reasonable action has been taken by the respondents [GPW] to bring the information technology system into a perfect working order.”
Fosi adds that they have not only fully complied with the court order but also with their mandate.
Saripa says in its application it is not claiming that the government printers failed to make efforts to restore the crashed IT or hardware system.
It is asserting that all three legal gazettes are not being published on a weekly basis – as they should be, and as the court has ordered GPW to do.
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Trying isn’t good enough
Bekker says the matter is undeniably urgent.
GPW is engaged in a function that is critical to the proper administration of justice. “Without timely and accurate publications in the legal gazettes, the effective operation of the justice system is compromised.”
Saripa sent a six-page letter to Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber in October, stating that there have been hundreds of letters between Saripa, the state attorney, and GPW to address the “dire situation” at the printers.
Saripa has asked for a meeting with the minister to try and find a solution.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
