The national property watchdog, the Estate Agency Affairs Board, has come out strongly against racism in the industry, following complaints from estate agents.

CEO Stanley Moshidi said the industry's code of conduct was being flouted, and incidents of racist behaviour within the workplace were becoming more prevalent.

Racist behaviour was preventing black people from entering the industry, and the board would take action against agents who practised racism, either in their treatment of their fellow agents or in their dealings with the public.

'The board deems it necessary to draw the attention of estate agents not only to the practical implications of regulation 2,6 of the code of conduct but also to the bill of rights in the constitution,' said Moshidi.

Complaints indicated that some sectors of the property industry discriminated against historically disadvantaged individuals in the following ways:

Paying historically disadvantaged candidate estate agents less commission than was paid to other candidate estate agents;

Relegating previously disadvantaged individuals to the periphery of their activities, and failing properly to encourage, motivate, mentor and treat them as equals;

Insisting that they perform only 'black-on-black' transactions and excluding them from general transactions; and

Generally treating them in an unbecoming, undignified, unequal and unacceptable manner.

Moshidi said this was discouraging black people from entering the industry, and contravened the constitution, which guaranteed equality and human dignity.