The Deeds Offices around the country should start work again on Wednesday, 13 May 2020.
The Acting Director-General of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development sent out a circular last Friday - 8th of May - in which he sets out the steps that have been taken to implement a gradual return to work. As the following table shows,
Branch Deeds | Office | Remote | Standby |
Bloemfontein | 36 | 1 | 47 |
Cape Town | 18 | 1 | 166 |
Johannesburg | 42 | 1 | 134 |
Kimberley | 7 | 1 | 22 |
King William's Town | 15 | 1 | 32 |
Limpopo | 20 | 1 | 10 |
Mpumalanga | 21 | 1 | 40 |
Pietermaritzburg | 14 | 1 | 122 |
Pretoria | 90 | 1 | 126 |
Umtata | 5 | 0 | 11 |
Vryburg | 15 | 1 | 14 |
Total | 283 | 10 | 724 |
only one third of employees will be returning to the office and, as for the deeds office in Cape Town, the picture looks worse as it looks like only 18 staff members will be in the Deeds Office, with one staff member working remotely and 166 on standby. This is in stark contrast to the Deeds Office in Pretoria, where 90 staff members will return to the office with 126 on standby.
A media statement gives futher details:
All services will be available and all lodgements will be accepted. The members of the public and clerks will however not be allowed in the buildings. Only conveyancers will be allowed to enter the buildings and in big offices, however, their consultations will be controlled through appointments.
The Office of the Chief Registrar will load all notices for applications for copies of lost deeds on DeedsWeb for public inspection. Information will be available for the public on DeedsWeb and via emails.
The Chief Registrar of Deeds has issued a notice that no Deeds Trading account debt will incur any interest during the lockdown.
Download Departmental Circular No 06 of 2020 and Departmental media sttement
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