The allegations of corruption and nepotism against Justice Minister Penuell Maduna by his deputy director-general, Mike Tshishonga, underline problems that plague the liquidations industry.

Tshishonga has accused Maduna of "undermining the rule of law" by intervening in certain liquidations, notably the messy winding-up of Retail Apparel Group (RAG).

Primarily, he notes Maduna's "obvious nepotism" regarding Enver Motala, whom he appointed to the RAG liquidation at the behest of the South African Revenue Service.

As evidence of this nepotism, Tshishonga points to the number of liquidations that Motala has been granted by the master's office in Pretoria: 27% of liquidations in the last six months.

Clearly, Motala has liaised closely with Maduna over RAG, a liquidation that the minister says will be a test case to see how deep corruption goes in the liquidation industry.

But Tshishonga fails to explain how Maduna supposedly pulled the strings, given that the minister does not actually appoint liquidators that is the job of the master of the court.

Also, Maduna has pointed out he intervened in RAG only when the revenue service appealed to him as the head of the master's office to appoint Motala on its behalf.

Revenue believed it was owed R300m, but this claim was disputed by other creditors, so the master of the court declined to appoint Motala. Only then did Maduna step in.

While Tshishonga's argument still has holes, he is at least in agreement with Maduna that the liquidations industry is contaminated by corruption.

In the late 1990s, liquidators and masters of the court were probed by the office for serious economic offences after allegations about irregularities in the appointment of liquidators to Macmed Health Care and Kelvinator.

At the time, Tshishonga recommended to Maduna that a full commission be held into the industry. An initiative got off the ground briefly and then fizzled out.

At the least, the new allegations underline severe problems in the master's department in charge of liquidations and the industry as a whole.

A full-scale commission will identify the weaknesses and provide a blueprint for changing an industry desperately in need of an overhaul.

With acknowledgements to Rob Rose and the Business Day.