The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) is working “around the clock” to clear the backlog of company registrations.
The commission, which came into being in May, has a large queue of more than 30 000 applications from companies and closed corporations wanting to register, or reserve names, in order to trade.
Its call centre cannot cope with the more than 50 000 incoming queries it receives on a monthly basis, and its Web site requires more development to cater for additional functionality.
The situation led to the Democratic Alliance (DA) arguing the delays will impact the economy and curtail job growth.
DA shadow minister of trade and industry Tim Harris points out the CIPC only processed 196 new registrations in June, about 7% of what its predecessor, the Companies and Intellectual Registration Property Office (Cipro), handled a year ago.
The CIPC was born after the Companies Act came into effect in May. It is the result of a merger of Cipro and the Office of Companies and Intellectual Property Enforcement.
Slow going
Harris said recently, since coming into being, the CIPC has only managed to complete 2 476 new registrations. “In the same period last year, its predecessor, the notoriously dysfunctional Cipro, completed 6 120 new registrations.”
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies yesterday indicated the backlog would be cleared by the end of next month.
In a statement, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) says it has “noted the public's concern” about the issue, but requested that commissioner Astrid Ludin “be given a chance to clear the backlog by the end of August”.
Ludin has stated the CIPC's biggest challenge is its legacy IT systems, which date back to 1997. She recently said the commission would have the bulk of a new system in place by next October.
“The management of CIPC has given an undertaking to the DTI and the portfolio committee on trade and industry that they are working around the clock to address the backlog,” it says. Davies and the DTI have “full confidence in the commissioner to address the current problems and challenges”.
The DTI says the CIPC will brief the portfolio committee at the end of August on progress it has made in clearing the backlog.
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