Racist Seller - Refuse the Mandate
Category Property News
Estate agents mustn’t accept any mandate coming with discriminatory stipulations, even if the landlord/seller should insist on this. This is the right thing to do and it is what the law says.
Former estate agent Vicky Momberg has barely been in jail for a month, making history as the first person in the country to receive a jail sentence for racist behaviour, or the property industry is again linked to another racist incident, this time an intern agent of Pam Golding who texted in reply to a query about a property that it is only available for rent to white people.
The texted conversation was immediately shared by the recipient on social media leading afresh to public questioning about latent racism in the property industry. Some comments intimated that similar responses have been encountered with other estate agencies. Last year an agent from Dick and Sue Home Finders got into trouble because she was listed as contacting agent on an online advertisement for a home for ‘whites only’.
Jan le Roux, CEO of industry body Real Estate Business Owners of South Africa (Rebosa), said estate agents should really do the right thing and not accept nor follow suit when a seller/landlord is racist.
“We all know the constitution, we have signed the pledge, we must treat everybody equally. The fact that the landlord/seller might be racist, does not give agents the licence to follow suit. Although we act on behalf of principals, we still have our own conscience and we still have to be law-abiding citizens. Our duty in such an instance is to advise our landlord that he is in contravention of various Acts is actually supporting racism and that he shouldn’t do so. The consequence could be dire for them too,” said Le Roux.
Author: The South African Property Magazine
