The South African Property Association (Sapoa) would not tolerate its members being involved in corrupt activity and would terminate the membership of any member found to be corrupt, Sapoa outgoing president Estienne de Klerk said at the recent Sapoa Convention, held in Cape Town.

De Klerk referred to comments by former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who, in his Budget Speech earlier this year, stated that the property sector was corrupt.

“While we have made remarkable progress working with government, it isn’t always easy and we have found ourselves in the position where confrontation was necessary. In these cases, we have not backed down. We went to bat for the sector when the [then] Minister of Finance called our sector corrupt.

“While we should not accept corrupt conduct from government, or their officials, we also should not accept it from our own industry. Returning to basic market principles will go a long way towards eradicating corruption,” he stated.

De Klerk also mentioned various Sapoa activi- ties that took place over the past year, specific-ally referring to the association’s real estate investment trust (REIT) committee, which had been in continuous discussions with the National Treasury on the topic of extending the REIT tax dispensation for institutional and private unlisted property loan stocks.

“Our discussions have been positive and productive and the National Treasury has indicated it will expand the REIT regulations into various areas of the unlisted sector,” he said.

Meanwhile, De Klerk added that many of the challenges currently faced by the South African property sector were prevalent at local government level.

He noted that Sapoa had made important inroads with local government through its ‘Meet the Mayor’ campaign, which offered member company CEOs the opportunity to meet with mayors around the country, while the association had also started monitoring and evaluating rates and taxes in the 11 main municipal budgets, determining how these impacted on Sapoa property owners.

This evaluation included engaging with the municipalities and making official submissions on behalf of Sapoa members.

“Increasing rates and taxes impact on the entire sector, with knock-on effects that go far beyond. Sapoa has enlisted the skills and expertise of the likes of IPD, the University of Pretoria and Rates Watch to get [greater] clarity on historical data as well as to find solutions to the problems,” De Klerk said.

He also pointed out that Sapoa had signed a memorandum of understanding with the South African Cities Network (SACN) to collaborate on issues of urban development and the promotion of good governance and city management.

Sapoa and the SACN both recognised the need for a common vision between the private and public sectors for urban development and city management, De Klerk stated.

He handed over the presidency to Stanlib Direct Property Investments chief investment officer Amelia Beattie.