MAIN IMAGE: Thato Ramaili, acting CEO of the PPRA
Rebosa
While the strike at the PPRA drags on, the education qualifications deadline for candidate practitioners is on Friday 30 June.In a final rush to meet the cut-off deadline, thousands of candidate practitioners needed to write their PDE exam on Tuesday, 20 June. It’s no secret that these exams have been fraught with technical difficulties and shoddy planning in the past. That said, the non-striking, skeleton staff in the Education Department at the PPRA, under the leadership of Nomsa Mokoena, seem to have managed a successful exam.
Adrianne du Toit, head of stakeholder relations at Rebosa shares in a letter, sent to Acting CEO Thato Ramaili, and the Property Professional that “The past few days have been challenging and relentless and we felt it necessary to write to you to express our gratitude and appreciation for the exceptional service delivered by the Education Department under difficult circumstances. Notwithstanding the strike action, large numbers of interns required assistance with qualification upgrades, reliant on SSETA external moderation, whose competency letters were only issued within hours of the cut-off exam registration deadline. Equivalency and PDE exemptions had to be granted, logbooks assessed, payments allocated, etc.
The exceptional performance of the Education Department during this time has not gone unnoticed. Their willingness to go the extra mile, work long hours, and adapt to changing circumstances, all in the service of maintaining the industry’s drive towards meeting the education qualifications deadline date is well noted and has made a significant difference, not only for our members but for the entire industry as a whole”.
The SSETA Chamber Manager: Real Estate and Related Services, Thembinkosi Mosia with the capable assistance of Sphamandla Mfiki, managed to fast-track external moderations and assist training providers with exiting over 10 000 NQF4 and over 1800 NQF5 candidates to qualify them to write the exam. This too was no small feat considering the timeframes.
Moving forward with the educational mandate
One could be forgiven for wondering whether the current strike at the PPRA isn’t highlighting the deadweight, as not only have the exams taken place with a skeleton staff, but the PPRA has also approved the baseline qualification standards for property practitioners, developed by the industry, and endorsed by Services SETA.
As shared by the National Property Practitioners Council (NPPC) in their June communiqué, the next steps include developing the course content material for NQF4, revamping the PDE content, developing a practical training course, and awaiting the finalisation of comments from industry bodies on NQF5.
Clarity gained on next steps regarding education
As shared by the National Property Practitioners Council (NPPC) in their June communiqué, the next steps include developing the course content material for Occupational Certificate Real Estate Agent NQF4, revamping the PDE content, developing a practical training course, and awaiting the finalisation of comments from industry bodies on NQF5.
A draft resolution was tabled at an industry meeting on the 30th of May and the PPRA will soon announce the way forward.
What does this mean for candidate practitioners?
This signifies that registered candidate property practitioners not affected by the 30 June 2023 compliance deadline, should register to complete the old NQF 4 qualification and PDE 4 within their first 24 months calculated from the issuance of their first FFC to avoid being rendered disqualified by the PPRA.
Similarly registered non-principals and principal property practitioners not affected by the 30 June 2023 compliance deadline or re-registered after being disqualified post the 30th of June 2023 should register to complete the RPL against the old NQF 4/NQF 5 qualifications and PDE 4/PDE 5 within the period that they are allowed by the PPRA to do so without being disqualified.
