Former CEO’s bravery needed for recent land agenda
Last week, the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) apologised to its former CEO, Nomonde Mapetla, for rubbishing her name when she was at the helm of the board. But this vindication will not make the headlines her illegal firing made.
The main reason she suffered this fate was that she executed her duties too well.
In a normal world, those who are assigned responsibility and who excel are duly rewarded, but as many have experienced, in our country, doing your job well can be a source of irritation for those whose interests do not coincide with the wellbeing of the country.
So I am not holding my breath for acres of newspaper space revisiting why she was fired and why the issue she was pursuing is still relevant five years down the line. The apology read in part “that the EAAB improperly dismissed Mapetla; and she was victimised for pursuing and uncovering abuse of funds by estate agents”.
The estate agency trade is one of the least transformed in the country and Mapetla spent her tenure trying to break what can only be described as a bastion of apartheid. If a glaring remnant of apartheid lingers on, it must include the property industry.
APARTHEID INDUSTRY
The real effects of the so-called sunset clause in the Constitution are reflected in this industry, which is still 90% in white hands. Mapetla waged a bitter and lonely battle to expose the almost criminal activities of some of the biggest names in property.
There were allegations that the law was being flouted by the industry’s big guns and that an influential white lobby stopped the EAAB from acting.
This eventually led to the firing of Mapetla, under the watch of struggle stalwarts such as Rob Davies and Tokyo Sexwale, who were ministers with oversight of the EAAB.
As usual, then public protector Thuli Madonsela came to the rescue, finding that the board had acted illegally. The question is, what must happen next?
Quite apart from doing right by Mapetla, if the board is serious about its apology, it must launch a full-scale investigation to uncover the rot that Mapetla’s firing was intended to cover up.
We should be watching this with keen interest to see that it does not end up as lip service and another cover-up to protect illegal activity. There are just too many cases of private sector impunity.
It is heartening to see large multinational companies such as Unilever being pursued by the Competition Commission. The slap-on-the-wrist approach has to change, starting with the alleged collusive behaviour by SA’s big banking brands.
TRANSFORMATION
But I digress. Property and land are key to making the slogan “radical economic transformation” come to pass.
Over the past 25 years, the ANC’s approach to land reform has been chaotic, but President Jacob Zuma must now ensure his comments on the need to implement a policy of expropriation without compensation are translated into legislation.
When the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, you get a situation where the president speaks left about land and the budget speaks right. Legislators are left defending the old position that the Freedom Charter is unrealistic.
It is clear that the ANC is in a corner and has to do what it should have done at the Codesa negotiating table: recognise that the land issue is at the heart of radical economic transformation and that it will be punished at the polls if it allows the EFF to run with the initiative.
Acting now to change the law would take the sting out of the EFF campaign and give the initiative back to the ANC.
If it implements the new law, it will be seen as the one dishing out the largesse, the same way that many think they get social grants at the behest of the ANC.
To do this effectively, the ANC needs the likes of Mapetla, who can fight fearlessly for transformation in the key sectors of the economy without being afraid of the consequences.
● Tabane is author of Let’s Talk Frankly and host of Power Perspective on Power FM.