MAIN IMAGE: Mfundo Daki, Executive Manager: Education and Training, PPRA
Several of the past PDE exams were hampered by mishaps – difficulties registering, reconciling payments, getting results in a reasonable time frame and the like – which were previously referenced in this publication. The latest one however takes the cake, again the same difficulties arose but students were notified a few days before that a new service provider, Lucidity, had been appointed. Some entrants received access details to attend online sessions to familiarise themselves with the new system, but many did not.
A new service provider is appointed at the last minute
The training tutorials that did take place, which many found extremely unprofessional, where hosted by a presenter battling with the technology, while admitting that the entire programme is still a work in progress. During this process it also became apparent that the contract with the new service provider was only negotiated in the nick of time, details remain murky as to whether it has in fact been finalised at the time of writing.
Hundreds of people reported difficulty in receiving details about the briefing sessions or gaining access to the actual sessions, while many couldn’t attend at all. The result was chaos. Despite these difficulties, a number managed to register and write the exam at nine o’clock on Thursday morning, the 17th of November.
A wobbly system comes crashing down
However, after answering several questions the system crashed, and many could not complete their exam. “This is an issue that cannot be blamed on the defunct IT system of the PPRA as it is an outside supplier which has been contracted. This is a dismal failure, leaving many agents very concerned having spent hours in preparation and making themselves available on Thursday morning, all to no avail,” says Jan le Roux, CE of REBOSA.
Adrianne Du Toit, Head of Stakeholder Relations at REBOSA states that as of Wednesday night, 500 agents had contacted REBOSA as they had still not received their access details. “Our queries, spanning from the previous days, were only responded to 10 minutes before the exam was meant to finish,” she explains.
Candidate Practitioners and trainers up in arms
“I am totally appalled! I don’t know if I have finished the exam. I was kicked out 3 times, and then needed to restart the exam from the beginning.” – Fifi Fourie, Candidate Property Practitioner at Remax Masters, Weltevreden Park.
“After waiting two hours to start this exam I was one of the lucky people that could start. Two hours into the exam, upon completion of question 24 and clicking the ‘next’ button, the system reset back to question one, and time reset back to 4 hours. This process was not ethical and fair. It is extremely unprofessional to not have all systems in place. Agents are expected to write an exam about ethics and professionalism in the property line of work and this is not being practice by the PPRA. I have had to take the morning off for this, I am at a crucial time in my business and time off is not a luxury that I can afford at this moment.” – Coenraad Botha, Seeff Mooreesburg
“At 08H55, five minutes before the exam was scheduled to start, my agents still had not received login links, or any confirmation or correspondence in this regard. This was very stressful for agents who have literally been preparing for 6 months, doing their NQF, completing their logbooks, trying to register for the exam and now dealing with the disappointment and stress of not even being able to access the exam.
They have spent considerable time and money preparing for this and it appears to be a fruitless exercise. I hope a clear communication comes out from the PPRA to provide the agents with direction and a solution. I would expect a new sitting to be organised post haste and still within this month while the information studied is fresh.” – Dinis Martins, Licensees Seeff, Somerset West.
“The inadequacies of today’s events do not merely affect the candidates. The repercussions ripple across a myriad of factors. It is unacceptable, unprofessional and incredible. The PPRA’s credibility and competency is in question and under the microscope. Someone needs to be identified and punished for the way candidates have been treated today. A simple apology will not go far enough.” – Simon Taylor, Husband of candidate practitioner.
“We had 19 brokers registered to write the exam and every one of them have experienced all or some of the issues raised. I think it is very worthwhile noting that quite literally not one broker had a seamless exam experience. If this is to be considered a sample of the industry, then I can just imagine the chaos that played out today amongst all agents attempting the exam…I cannot fathom how the PPRA could elect a new, untested, service provider (clearly not equipped for the exam) to provide the platform for the last exam before the deadline date. There is so much frustration and anger amongst my brokers at the moment and it is understandable.” – Nicole Brown, Training Manager, Wakefields Estate Agents.
A possible way forward
When asked to comment, Mr Daki referenced the announcement made on the PPRA website on Thursday evening that the exam will be offered again, between two to three weeks, at no extra cost to candidates. The new examination date is to be communicated in the coming days, with the PPRA encouraging candidates to ensure that their email addresses are updated on the portal. This of course begs the question as to how the new supplier will manage to offer the exam without glitches within such a tight deadline.
All of this is against the background of the Authority having announced that all interns who have been registered as such for longer than two years, would be deregistered in January, hence the anxiety around the exam. It appears that the PPRA will adjust this deadline. Nothing has been communicated yet but there is reason to believe that this will happen, especially in light of current events.
Who is responsible?
“This is not a proud moment for Mr Daki, Executive Manager: Education and Training who has overseen a series of mishaps, and who must bear responsibility for the current fiasco. Surely some action must be taken as this situation was utterly avoidable. The press release issued apologises, announces a way forward but no responsibility is taken for the preventable disaster. Prior to Thursday we had shared the multitude of problems with PPRA”, says le Roux.
UPDATE: Rewriting of the PDE
The PPRA has issued the following notice regarding the rewriting of the PDE exam:
- Candidates who successfully completed the examination and passed will not be prejudiced and required to rewrite the exam. They will be awarded their respective designation and progress to the next status.
- Candidates who completed but failed the examination will be allowed an opportunity to rewrite the examination at no additional cost to them.
- Candidates who completed the examination but were unable to review their answers and have passed, will not be prejudiced and required to rewrite the exam. They will be awarded their respective designation and progress to the next status.
- Candidates who wrote and failed will be allowed to rewrite at no additional cost to them.
- Candidates who were not able to login and those who were kicked out and did not complete the exam, will be allowed to rewrite the exam at no additional cost to them and will not be financially prejudiced as they will not be required to pay or be penalised.
- Online exam services are suspended and the PPRA will rollout physical or venue-based exams nationally on 30 November 2022. Details of the venues will be communicated by no later than 28 November 2022.
- Marking be completed and results be made available on or before 28 November 2022.
