The System is Offline- So What Else is New?

 

If you have not yet heard of the Ransomware attack on the IT systems of our Department of Justice you can read the article that I have found via this link: 

https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/department-of-justice-says-its-recovering-from-cyber-hack-causing-court-case-delays-20211010

If you have lived in this country as long as I have you will know that few things please our public servants the way their working tools do when they break or fall out of working order.

For the road-worker a broken spade or pick-axe means a nice quiet day under the tree. For the official at your local motor vehicle licence office a computer system being offline means catching up on gossip with coworkers, reading the newspaper and the occasional interruption by a member of the public that has to be sent away with the all to well-known "the System is Offline".

This time around it was the turn of the staff of our local Master's Office and our Maintenance Court here in Mbombela to show members of the public- and us attorneys- away with the excuse that- Yes! You have guessed it... "The System is Offline"!

The cause for this was an event that had in one fell swoop affected the whole country. Even though the Department's spokesperson says that they are recovering we still see the effect of this unfortunate event in our Maintenance Court at this very moment and- from what I had to hear from officials- is going to take us another couple of weeks to get back to normal.

Well... At the Master's Office "normal" would mean the backlog being back to what it was before it was aggravated by the downtime that was forced upon it...

We might never know who it was that had sent the infected email. We might never know who the hapless employee was who had just opened it. We know, however, that you and I are affected in the following manner:

At the Master's Office:

1. Where you previously reported a deceased estate and just had to wait for the Estate Controller to work her way through the existing backlog to get you your letter of executorship after 3 months or so the issuing of letters of executorship has now been brought to a screeching halt. This means that even if we hear within this coming week that the System is back online again we shall now have an even bigger backlog to deal with. 

2. The Master's solution to the problem of attorneys showing up at their doorstep demanding updates on the progress in the matters lodged with them is to just refuse to see them unless they have made an appointment through the following points of contact:

    - a landline telephone number that does simply not get answered;

    - by email to a recipient that may never reply ( I am still awaiting a reply to my own emails...)

    - via a help desk that is manned by one employee who is assisting a member of the public in      reporting a deceased estate afresh and who in doing so is unable to attend to the long queue of people behind her who have just come to ask for an appointment.

3. Progress reports on pending matters with the Master cannot be obtained as these reports were always obtained from the computer system...  

At the Maintenance Court it is in my view even worse. This Court- that was kept operational even during the Level 5 Covid 19 alert level- or as we remember it "The Lockdown" has now been unable to issue new maintenance applications for the last 4 weeks!

I am definitely not denying that the unwarranted cyber attack has brought a significant challenge- or even a number of challenges- to bear upon the above institutions, but having the essential services rendered by these institutions kept at a standstill for a period of weeks is a sign that management and the employees involved are not solution-driven.

Eliminate the electricity supply or the computer system to any attorney's office and you will find that we will find a way to keep on working. Admittedly it is partly because our livelihoods depend on us continuing our work, but also because we know that telling our clients that we can no longer help them is not acceptable.

Now- what shall be done about this particular problem?

Well...? 

I am asking this very same question to the following persons:

-Our Minister of Justice;

-Mbombela Magistrates' Court Manager;

- Our Maintenance Officer;

- Our Master of the High Court.

In my next blog post I will share their answers with you if I receive them- or I will tell you what we do next...