Watchdog cracks down on racism in property sector

Name calling, being discriminated against by clients and the use of Afrikaans in meetings are some of the incidents that have been cited during public hearings into racism in the property sector.

The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) started its public hearings on Wednesday in Cape Town, followed by Durban on Thursday and on Friday proceedings were held in Johannesburg.

PPRA, which was launched last month, replacing the old Estate Agency Affairs Board, initiated public hearings after receiving several complaints about racism in the sector, including a black estate agent being called a monkey by her white boss.

During Friday’s hearing held in Sandton an estate agent said she quit her job at one of the country’s big firms following repeated incidents of racism.

“During day-to-day operations, they would, in my presence, call black people monkeys. It was all a big joke to them. I am black, so according to them I was a monkey. I felt humiliated and belittled and could not work there anymore,” said the Johannesburg North agent who identified herself as Karabo.

Another estate agent from Pretoria East told of how company emails at the agency she works at are written in Afrikaans and how meetings are conducted in the language even though there were non-Afrikaans speaking employees.