The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) says its system is experiencing intermittent technical problems.
As a result, it says in a notice on its Web site that customers might experience problems when transacting with CIPC's electronic lodgement and dispatch services, as well as the walk-in offices in Pretoria and Cape Town.
The undated notice says: "Customers are assured that the problem is receiving urgent attention and that you will be kept updated on any developments. CIPC is in the process of implementing additional technical infrastructure to be completed in the next three weeks."
The CIPC has apologised for any inconvenience caused, but did not provide a detailed explanation as to what the issue was.
The CIPC was formed after the Companies Act came into effect in May 2011, when the Companies and Intellectual Registration Property Office (Cipro) and the Office of Companies and Intellectual Property Enforcement were merged.
In mid-2011, the CIPC said it would overhaul its IT systems, a process that was expected to be largely completed by October last year. The overhaul came in the midst of mounting criticism from consumers battling to register new company names and lodge annual returns.
Cipro was heavily criticised after its database was abused in 2010, which led to the South African Revenue Service paying out fraudulent tax refunds worth at least R51 million, after companies' details were illicitly changed on Cipro's database.
In addition, at least 11 firms were reportedly hijacked in 2010, as fraudsters removed legitimate directors and replaced them with others on the agency's database.
Cipro also failed to install a new enterprise content management system, after a R153 million contract, awarded to Valor IT, was canned when irregularities were picked up in the tender process.
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