Suspended property watchdog boss Mohlala-Mulaudzi’s history of wars with ministers

Property watchdog boss, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, has a history of wars with ministers.

Her current dispute with the minister of human settlements about her suspension is therefore nothing new.

Mohlala-Mulaudzi, the CEO of the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority’s (PPRA), was put on precautionary suspension for irregularities relating to pension fund contributions and the appointment of six employees by the board, but the property watchdog is challenging her suspension and the legitimacy of the board’s appointment in an urgent application in the high court in Johannesburg.

ALSO READ: Property watchdog wars: Suspended boss says minister had no authority to appoint board

This is not the first time that Mohlala-Mulaudzi had a fallout with a minister she works for, or employees and colleagues.

Icasa

While she was serving as a councillor for the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (Icasa) from 2002 until 2007, the Mail & Guardian reported that 11 senior officials resigned and singled out Mohlala-Mulaudzi, saying they were fed up with the council interfering in operations and regularly flouting Icasa’s policies and procedures.

Department of communication

She then left to become the Pension Fund Adjudicator before becoming director-general of the department of communications, where, according to the Mail & Guardian, five senior managers resigned followed her appointment, citing her autocratic leadership in their exit interviews.

Mohlala-Mulaudzi also suspended another six for alleged misconduct and corruption. One of them, the chief director of human resources, Basani Baloyi, was reinstated by the Bargaining Council for the Public Service, but when she returned to work, her position had already been filled by a junior official who was a main witness in her disciplinary hearing.

At the time, Mohlala-Mulaudzi said that the suspensions were based on the outcome of a forensic audit which implicated some of the managers in financial and other irregularities and that she suspended others following complaints of operational incapacity and insubordination.

Baloyi later told the labour court she was suspended for refusing to approve Mohlala’s salary demands and forced her to take a psychometric test.

Also Read: Watch: Estate agents on the rampage at property practitioners watchdog’s Sandton offices

Mail & Guardian also then reported that various positions were filled by staff from the Pension Fund Adjudicator, but Mohlala-Mulaudzi then responded that they were interviewed and recommended by an independent panel, of which she was not a member.

In July 2010 Mohlala-Mulaudzi was released from her contract with immediate effect according to a statement from the department that said it became apparent that trust between the minister (Siphiwe Nyanda) and the director general has broken down irretrievably.

It Web reported that Mohlala-Mulaudzi then filed an urgent application with the Labour Court to overturn her dismissal because it was illegal and unfair and that the minister had no authority to dismiss her.

In the end former president Jacob Zuma stepped in and it was decided that Mohlala-Mulaudzi will be redeployed to become the National Consumer Commissioner.

ALSO READ: Dishonest and misguided: PPRA board hits back at suspended boss

National Consumer Commission

Trouble also followed her there and trade union Nehawu complained in 2011 that staff were unhappy with their working conditions, such as being forced to work long hours and on Saturdays, insufficient work stations, no performance contracts, denied leave denied and being bullied and threatened by her.

However, Mohlala then told Timeslive that an independent survey of staff showed that they were happy at work.

When she fell out with her supervisors at the department of trade and industry, the minister, Dr. Rob Davies, said when he announced that her contract will not be reviewed, that he did not know her from a bar of soap and that there was no formal interview when she was appointed, according to Finweek.

She took the department to the labour court a number of times to get her job back, but in the end she gave up.

After she left the commission, all the compliance notices she issued against businesses were set aside by the National Consumer Tribunal or withdrawn by her successor, Ebrahim Mohamed.

He told the portfolio committee in parliament that instead of acting as a national body for consumer protection, Mohlala-Mulaudzi emphasised complaints resolution “while corporate governance and due processes necessary for the operation of an efficient public entity was lacking.”

She signed the enforcement guidelines of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) herself although it is part of the regulations and should only be signed by the minister.

In a case before the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) the panel described the commission’s efforts to defend the compliance as a “circus”, pointing out that the commission fails to follow correct procedures for issuing a compliance notice, issued defective compliance notices and issued notices not sanctioned by the CPA.

Mohlala-Mulaudzi responded then by saying that she does not understand ‘on what basis [are] they (the tribunal) coming up with this type of insinuation’.

ALSO READ: Court orders estate agency board to issue hundreds of FFC certificates

SABC and EEAB

While practicing as an attorney, Mohlala-Mulaudzi was appointed as deputy chairperson of the SABC board and then as CEO of the Estate Agents Affairs Board (EAAB). At the SABC it was also not plain sailing as Mohlala-Mulaudzi was paid to attend board meetings although government policy directs that public servants are not allowed to receive payment to sit on state boards.

At the EAAB she also clashed with staff and Nehawu and a report from an anonymous whistle blower that was sent to the minister of human settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu and the board accused her of allegedly appointing staff without following the correct recruitment process and not telling the truth about Vodacom sponsoring tablets for the EAAB’s youth programme, according to Rapport.

In March last year the high court ordered the property watchdog to issue 2021 fidelity fund certificates to a group of 833 estate agents who could not work or get paid because they were not certified after the EAAB claimed in the January edition of a property magazine that it had issued compliant FFCs for 2021 in time by 31 December 2020 and that all industry bodies had confirmed this.