The Master's offices, from the Gazette record
Most deceased estates leave two public notices in the Government Gazette: one calling on creditors when the estate opens, and one when its account is ready. GazetteSearch holds those printed since mid-2012, bar a few missing weeks listed on Trust and integrity. Read together, they show how long estates take at each Master's office, and how that has changed.
Estates take longer to reach their account.
Of estates advertised in 2016 to 2018, 60% had one within a year; of those advertised in 2022, 44%, and in 2024, 50%.
How many estates reach their account within six months, a year and two years.
Counts the estates advertised in the year, including those still open, but not the few whose account is dated before their notice, so a year's count of estates differs slightly from the count in other figures. 2012 starts in June, with the record. About one estate in five never shows an account, so compare years, not the ceiling.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). How many estates reach their account within six months, a year and two years. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/backlog#completion. Data: CC BY 4.0.
Go deeper: Open estates and the backlog → (opens in a new tab)
Nelspruit has fallen far behind the national median.
In 2017 its estates took a median of 6 months (196 days) from the notice to creditors to the account, as estates did nationally (182 days); in 2025 they took 1.8 years (665 days), 2.6 times the national median of 9 months (259 days).
Nelspruit against the national median.
Grouped by the year of the account, so a year of clearing old estates reads slower.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Nelspruit against the national median. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/offices#nelspruit. Data: CC BY 4.0.
Go deeper: The Master's offices compared → (opens in a new tab)
Thohoyandou's published accounts have fallen in two steps since 2023.
The office published 41 to 72 accounts a quarter in 2023, 28 to 42 in 2024 and 7 to 20 from October 2025, while Polokwane, the other Limpopo office, published 259 to 318 a quarter in those last four quarters; the record does not show why.
Accounts published each quarter by each office, with Thohoyandou picked out.
An account printed twice in one issue counts once. Thohoyandou's fall is not a change in how its office is printed: accounts for estates of people who lived in the Vhembe area fell too, and Polokwane did not take them up. The record does not show why.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Accounts published each quarter by each office, with Thohoyandou picked out. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/flows#by-quarter. Data: CC BY 4.0.
Questions asked in public
Members of Parliament, journalists and the industry have asked about the Master's offices. A few of their questions, with what the record shows.
(d) what is the total number of estate-related matters currently open at each office, (e) what number of the specified matters are older than (i) 3 months, (ii) 6 months and (iii) 12 months
The short answer: At the end of September 2026, 94,835 estates advertised in the last five years had no account in the Gazette, and 61,727 of them had gone more than a year since the notice to creditors without one. Johannesburg had the most (23,068); some will never show an account in the record, and estates advertised more than five years ago are not counted. The figure
What is the current average turnaround time in each province for (i) deceased estates, ... (b) which offices currently exceed six-month turnaround times in any category
The short answer: In 2025 only Bhisho had a median wait of six months or less from the notice to creditors to the account (182 days); Gqeberha was next at 196 days, and every other office took longer, up to 1.8 years (665 days) in Nelspruit. Kimberley was the next slowest, at 427 days (1.2 years). The figure
Service is poor or non-existent. It's a non-functioning office, possibly the worst in the country. There is a total lack of commitment.
The short answer: On the public record, yes. In 2025 Nelspruit took a median of 665 days (1.8 years) from the notice to creditors to the account, the slowest of the 16 offices and nearly three times Johannesburg's 8 months (238 days). The figure
Go deeper
- Open estates and the backlog: How many estates have no account yet, for how long, and at which office. (4 charts)
- The Master's offices compared: How long estates take at each office, from the notice to creditors to the account. (4 charts)
- Estates in, accounts out: New estates against estates reaching their first account, nationally, month by month; then, office by office, the account notices printed and the new estates, which count different things. (5 charts)
- The whole journey: From a death to the account: each step, who is responsible for it, and how long it takes. (5 charts)
- Who administers estates: In 2025 about one notice to creditors in five (roughly 16% to 24%) named a private person as executor, but professionals lodged about 96% of estates' first accounts, and law firms' share of first accounts rose from 45% in 2013 to 55%. From samples of 1,000 estates a year, every entry read. (2 charts)
- Each Master's office: the same figures, one office at a time, on a page for each of the offices.
The figures are counts and times between public notices. What that can and cannot show is set out once, on Method and limits; how each number is checked is on Trust and integrity.