Estate agent fined for racial discrimination
Cape Town estate agent Gabriella Johnson has been fined R25 000 by the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) after refusing to rent a property to a prospective tenant because of his race.
A TimesLIVE report says Pol Osei in October posted a copy of a WhatsApp conversation between himself and Johnson on social media in which the estate agent told him his application for accommodation had been declined because of his race.
Testifying before a PPRA committee, Osei said he responded to an advert for a rental property which bore Johnson’s details.
He said the advert said nothing about a ‘race-specific tenant’.
After contacting Johnson, he received a message telling him that he was ‘not eligible as the landlord was not keen on renting it out to people of colour/foreigners’.
Johnson subsequently pleaded not guilty.
She told the hearing she had acted ‘as a concerned citizen when she assisted’ Osei.
According to the PPRA, Johnson said she ‘knew the habits of/or desires of the landlord but the landlord had not given her such specific instructions’ and ‘admitted that she had raised the issue of race’.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
