Property practitioners watchdog CEO claims racism behind her suspension

Boardroom tensions have reached boiling point at the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA), with the watchdog’s suspended boss claiming she was a victim of racism and an anti-transformation agenda.

PPRA chief executive officer (CEO) Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi is on precautionary suspension for irregularities relating to pension fund contributions and the appointment of six employees.

In an exclusive interview with The Citizen, Mohlala-Mulaudzi said that at the heart of her suspension were shenanigans to derail her robust transformation agenda.

“Look at the timing of my suspension. I do the racism workshops, on the last day of that racism workshop, in the afternoon, I then get put on precautionary suspension.

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“Racism and transformation are intertwined. So clearly, there is an intention to stop me from coming up with the final report on racism or to delay it at the very least,” she said.

In an affidavit filed in the High Court in Johannesburg this week, she made explosive allegations of attempts by board members to meddle in supply chain processes.

Mohlala-Mulaudzi is lobbying the court to declare her precautionary suspension unlawful on the basis that the board was not legally constituted to decide on her fate and that she had been cleared of the allegations that were used as the basis of her suspension.

Her argument is that the current board is illegitimate because it was appointed by Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on 26 November, 2021 under the old Estate Agency Affairs Act.

According to Mohlala-Mulaudzi, Kubayi appointed the new board before the new Property Practitioners Act came into effect, pointing out that the minister had no power to appoint a new board.

The old Estate Agency Affairs Act gave the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, in this case, the authority to install a new board, and not the human settlements minister, she argued.

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“I think I have been irritating certain people because of my views on transformation, the agenda and the pace,” she said.

“Our programmes are beginning to yield a return and economic empowerment for black people and [I am now] being stopped dead in my tracks so that I cannot continue to achieve and to grow from that context.”

She said the allegations forming the basis of her precautionary suspension were investigated by the board and she was cleared.

The regulatory authority is yet to respond to request for comment.