Property industry watchdog tackles ‘racism’ as transformation bogs down

The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has begun a series of public hearings into racism in the sector.

The first hearing was held in Cape Town on Wednesday. The regulator said it had received a number of submissions concerning cases of racism. The hearings were also prompted by a probe it conducted into a complaint lodged against a Western Cape estate agent.

Among other things, the regulator said it wants to “unearth the extent and prevalence of alleged racist practices within the industry and further aim to investigate the efficacy of the application of the code of conduct for the industry and the newly enacted Property Practitioners Act”.

PPRA CEO Mamodupi Mohlala said racism and discrimination in any industry were contrary to economic growth and anyone in the property sector discriminating against black South Africans was “interrupting economic growth”.

“This is the first hearing that we’re having in the SA context in the property sector, and it is a very critical and important occasion,” Mohlala said on Wednesday.

“I’m sure all of you heard when the president spoke during Human Rights Day. He made it quite clear that the issue of racism should be at the front and top of our agendas because this is something that still exists in our environment and needs to be eradicated and dealt with as soon as possible.

“So I do believe that the conducting of these racism workshops or hearings in the private sector is actually quite timely and aligns directly with the message that the president gave in terms of the human rights.”

Mohlala said the PPRA will compile annual statistics on transformation in the sector.

“We’ve been giving statistics around the registration of black property practitioners within the different provinces and ... we’ve also broken it down in terms of race and gender.

“But it would seem that irrespective of the calls, the outcries and the initiatives that we have, transformation is still taking very long to occur in our sector, and it’s happening at a very slow pace. But we now need to deal with it and deal with it quite urgently.”

Mohlala said not only was transformation a challenge in the sector but “racism continues”.

She said: “There was a much-publicised story last year of a (black) gentleman who sought access to premises for residential purposes in Cape Town and was prevented from accessing or taking occupation of those premises based on the fact that the estate agent informed him that the landlord or the owner of the property was not in favour of having a tenant who is black or black African.

“That caused a huge outcry. We felt that we could not stand back and allow such practices to continue.”

Mohlala said she set up an investigative committee which uncovered “elements of racism”.

“We then started interacting and inviting members of the public who had been subjected to similar instances or similar acts of racism within the property sector.

“We received quite a substantial number of inputs from members of the public throughout the country but there was a strong emphasis in the Western Cape.

“We then made a decision that we would then invite people to put their experiences in writing and send them through to us as the regulator.”

Mohlala said the PPRA had compiled a document from the collated information “that speaks to the nature of the types of racism that our people have been subjected to in the different provinces”.

The hearings will be continue in Durban on Thursday and Sandton on Friday.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.