Steering a sector through a pandemic

as the largest South African primary real estate investment trust (Reit) listed on the JSE, Growthpoint Properties has always had an appreciation that the property industry would look to them to take the lead in industry matters.

But it’s unlikely that Estienne de Klerk, CEO of Growthpoint Properties South Africa, ever imagined he’d be navigating a wilting economy and global pandemic simultaneously … and steering SA’s property industry through the crisis.

“I don’t think anyone in their working careers, even those who’ve retired, have had to deal with something like this where, on top of a weak