Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies has urged the public not to make use of so-called “runners”, who claimed that the only way to get a company registered at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) was to pay them a fee.

Responding to concerns raised by members of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry about “runners”, Davies reiterated that the CIPC had no official agents or intermediaries that could fast-track the registration of companies, stating that these people were not legally recognised by the CIPC.

Davies, last month, also noted in a written response to a question posed by Democratic Alliance MP Geordin Hill-Lewis in Parliament that the CIPC had no official agents or intermediaries.

The Minister conceded this week that he was aware that there were numerous such intermediaries and agents around the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) campus.

“These intermediaries and agents are quite sophisticated and they are in possession of information and communication technology equipment and shelf companies that they offer to members of the public at a fee.

“Our message to members of the public is that it is not necessary or desirable to go to those people, as we have thrown them off the DTI campus. They may continue to be in the vicinity but they are not recognised,” he emphasised, adding that officials who were found to be working with the “runners” would be dealt with.

Further, Davies noted that the CIPC had implemented a number of improvements in terms of registering companies.

“We have simplified the [application] forms, reduced the number of requirements, and we have more than one point of registration with the self service centre in Sunny Park and the various First National Bank branches across the country,” he said.

He added that the CIPC would roll out more self service centres in South Africa.

In his response to Hill-Lewis in July, Davies also revealed that the CIPC would, by the end of September, launch a new website that would include a query resolution function to reduce the average response time when dealing with queries or requests.