Estate agency board in new scandal
High-flying member defiant over trip despite moratorium
● The Estate Agency Affairs Board, already limping after a string of failed CEOs and allegations of mismanagement, is now squaring off against a board member it accuses of misrepresenting the purpose of her R90,000 trip to Ghana.
Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw travelled to Ghana to attend a transformation workshop in March 2018, despite a moratorium on overseas trips due to the organisation’s parlous financial state.
The details of the trip are contained in testimony presented at a disciplinary hearing for former CEO Nikita Sigaba.
Sigaba authorised the trip despite concerns being raised about the moratorium and that the trip “was for personal development and wellbeing” and not in line with requirements.
Sigaba resigned earlier this year, shortly after being found guilty in May of approving Kula-Ameyaw’s trip.
She was accompanied on the trip by transformation manager Mandisa Shirries. Shirries referred all queries to the board. The organisation said it would not act against her as she was “acting on instruction”.
Sigaba told the Sunday Times this week that the moratorium had only been approved by the board’s finance committee at the time he authorised Kula-Ameyaw’s trip and had still to be discussed at a full board meeting.
“I wanted to challenge the disciplinary verdict, but I felt it would be futile as the board had already taken a decision to fire me,” Sigaba said.
Kula-Ameyaw told the Sunday Times that only the minister of human settlements — who appoints the board — had the power to institute disciplinary action against her should any grounds be found.
“I can afford my own trips and if they had an issue with this trip, I could have paid for it myself,” she said.
Human settlements minister Lindiwe Sisulu has instructed the director-general in her department to look into allegations of corruption and mismanagement at the agency.
Her spokesperson, Makhosini Mgitywa, confirmed that Sisulu had appointed the 15member board on July 5 2016, and that she handled all matters related to them.
The estate agents’ regulatory and controls body, which manages a R600m fidelity fund on behalf of the industry, is also facing internal complaints from employees and whistleblowers. A memorandum to the board from “disgruntled staff”, dated September 22 2019, alleged nepotism, fraud and theft at the institution.
Board chair Nkosinathi Biko confirmed they are looking into the complaints.
In the past five years, the EAAB has gone through three CEOs and three CFOs.
In June 2016 a new board was appointed following forensic reports which resulted in the sacking of four senior managers and employees.
Another 2017 forensic report by auditors Grant Thornton found that a suspense account, containing millions of rand deposited by estate agents, had not been properly reconciled for five years.
The report pointed the finger for the negligence at former CFO Silence Mmotong and former CEO Bryan Chaplog, and recommended disciplinary action be taken against them.
Chaplog’s contract with the EAAB expired before any action was taken against him, and Mmotong resigned.
Chaplog said: “I do not want to legitimise this report by responding to its finding and was never given an opportunity to respond to it.”
He said when the investigation was conducted he was seconded to the Housing Development Agency until his contract with the EAAB ended.
Mmotong told the Sunday Times this week that he hadn’t seen the report either but was aware of its contents.
“I resigned in July 2017. I was just not happy with the collapse of governance within the EAAB.”
He said his problems at the EAAB started when he began questioning some of the
I can afford my own trips and if they had an issue with this trip, I could have paid for it myself Eugenia KulaAmeyaw
EAAB board member
board’s decisions.
Biko said they were committed to implement some of the recommendations of the Grant Thornton report.
The board had already instructed CEO Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi to present a detailed report on the entity’s suspense account.
He said that in line with the recommendations, a new CEO and information officer had already been appointed, and the process to find a new CFO was under way.
With regards to Kula-Ameyaw’s trip, Biko said a report had been sent to the minister’s office last year, but there had been no response as yet.
Mgitywa said the director-general was investigating all allegations.