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Johannesburg - The backlog in company registrations at the
Companies and Intellectual Property Commission will be cleared by the end of
August, the department of trade and industry (DTI) said on Wednesday.
The DTI "has noted the public's concern regarding
registrations backlog at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission
(CIPC), but has requested that the new commissioner, Ms Astrid Ludin, be given
a chance to clear the backlog by end of August".
The commission, set up in May 2011, replaced the
fraud-tainted Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro).
The new Companies Act implemented on May 1 gives wider powers to the CIPC, which is responsible for registering companies, promoting awareness of company and intellectual property law, and monitoring compliance of financial reporting standards, among others.
At its launch, Ludin set the commission the goal of being
the best regulator in the country.
However, almost three months later it is still
plagued by backlogs.
The Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday the commission had
only processed 196 new registrations in June 2011 - equivalent to 7% of the 2
738 new registrations processed in the same month last year.
The DTI said there had been a massive increase in company
registrations since the CIPC was established in May.
"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," the DTI said.
The CIPC will brief the portfolio committee at the end of August on the progress made.
