Deputy Speaker, the process of registering companies to require limited liability status is the first step towards participating in economic activity, and it is therefore imperative that it takes place smoothly and efficiently.
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission is an autonomous commission responsible for its own administration, but reporting to the Minister of Trade and Industry. I have interacted on a number of occasions with them about some of the challenges and problems that they are facing. Earlier this week, I went on a walkabout to engage with staff and to see some of the issues and the progress they were making.
The main issue is that, since the formation of the commission and entry into force of the new Companies Act, there has been a significant increase in company registrations under way. This took place against the background of some backlogs arising from the old Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office. The question does provide a table showing the status of implementation of various transactions during the course of August up until 18 August.
I think that this shows some significant progress in some areas. For example, name registration is a very important part of the process. Under the new Companies Act, it is not necessary to register a name, but many companies do. The number of transactions outstanding at the beginning of August was 31 108; 10 004 applications were received up until 18 August and 37 220 applications were processed, leaving only 3 892 on 18 August.
Similar progress was reported with respect to amendments to companies, where the number of the backlog went down from 19 000 to only 450. The challenges still remain in company registrations and also with co-operative registrations. What is happening is that the leadership of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission is now deploying additional resources to try to unblock those particular blockages.
The commission has been mandated to prepare a full update and to table this at a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on 13 September. They are well aware that we, together with Parliament, are expecting that there will be further significant progress by that time. Thank you very much.