Letter to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services; Appeal to raise the amounts for the purposes of Section 18(3) of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act no. 66 of 1965)

As a group of concerned civil society organisations working closely with some of the most marginalised communities in South Africa, we urgently appeal to you to increase the threshold for "Section 18(3) Estates". The threshold was last raised to its current level of R250,000 in 2014 (Government Gazette

no. 38238) and has therefore not been adjusted to compensate for property price inflation and other market related factors that have served to increase the value of properties. This prejudices heirs, many of whom subsist on low incomes and who, under the present dispensation, suffer the disadvantage of

having the meagre estate eroded by the cost of an executor. In the current economic context that has emerged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, not being able to formally regularise their title undermines the economic resilience of precisely those who we would wish to see home ownership support.