On 19 July 2026, the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) announced a new "competency-based pathway" to the Professional Designation Examination (PDE 4). ZAP HUB believes this is a serious mistake, and we are supporting the petition asking Parliament to intervene.
What Has Changed
Under the new pathway, a candidate can sit the PDE 4 with only a National Senior Certificate (Matric). The mandatory NQF Level 4 Further Education and Training Certificate in Real Estate, and the Occupational Certificate for Real Estate Agents, can now be bypassed entirely.
In their place sits a competency letter signed by the candidate's own principal. There is no PPRA verification of that letter, and no published content standard for the six practical modules it is meant to certify. In practice, that means a consumer has no way of knowing whether the practitioner in front of them has any real grounding in the industry.
Why This Matters
Buying or selling a home is the largest financial transaction most South Africans will ever make. The formal qualification is what ensures a practitioner understands property law, ethics, fiduciary duty and consumer protection. Removing it does not make the profession more accessible — it makes it less safe.
It also reverses the PPRA's own position. Two years ago, after consultation, the Authority confirmed that the qualification standards for the sector would remain NQF 4 and NQF 5. Thousands of practitioners have since spent years and significant money meeting exactly that requirement.
The Wider Problem
Ten of the twelve categories of property practitioner under the PPRA's mandate currently have no education requirement at all, with no public notice of when that will change. This new pathway lowers the bar for the two remaining categories as well.
What the Petition Asks For
- Suspend the new competency-based pathway pending full, transparent stakeholder consultation.
- Restore mandatory NQF 4 and NQF 5 qualifications as the educational standard.
- Make education more affordable — through learnerships and financial support — rather than removing the requirement.
- Publish clear, enforceable education requirements for all twelve categories of practitioner.
Add Your Name
Transformation of this industry is a goal ZAP HUB supports without reservation. But the real barrier has always been the cost of education, not the requirement itself. Lowering the standard does not open the door — it cheapens what is behind it, and leaves consumers unprotected.
The petition is hosted on Change.org and takes under a minute to sign.
