The Sentinel - Hout Bay
Every so often things land on my desk that I simply have to laugh at. This is one such example.
Before I get into why I find this all so odd I feel it apt to give you some more background info.
The current owners of the Sentinel are G&R Marine Services- they managed to purchase the mountain (a 10.9ha site) for aprox R50,000. This by the way was in 2001. Not the mid 80’s as the price leads you to believe. At first glance it seems like they got themselves a bargain. However the zoning in place is Agricultural 2, so there should be no scope for development for any potential purchaser. For now at least. One wonders if a few brown envelopes might not ‘fix’ that ‘problem’.
The expected sale price of this landmark peak of Southern Africa’s coastline is in the region of R12m. Rumours abound that interested parties include the likes of Sol Kerzner, Donald Trump JR and just to add some further drama to what is already a very bizarre story, the South African government. They come in the form of the South African National Parks Board (SANP), For if the mountain does infact form part of the Table Mountain National Park (how can it not?) then it will be a compulsory purchase.
I am yet to do a Windeed search on this site to see who the owners were before our friends over at G&R Marine Services, but I can’t help but feel they may have sold somewhat under value.
As you may imagine there are a fair few parties who are rather unpleased with the proposed sale. One such community is that of Hangberg. We also have SANP who have had several offers rejected for the land already. Possibly due in part to the fact they think that in 2001 the deal with G&R Marine Services was fair value for agricultural land. The sheer fact it is now for sale at R12m leads me to believe it was probably not.
However this story plays out you can’t help but feel there are some questions that need to be asked and hopefully answered. It must be said the whole subject has shades of the Council owned land at Big Bay which was sold for R115M to Tokyo Sexwale, this deal going through after the council had turned down a R151M offer from Niall Mellon’s Earthquake Africa.
I sincerely hope this will be the only national monument that is for sale this year. Furthermore, the annual Big Wave Africa is coming up, so if any potential purchaser is reading this. Please at least allow us to visit your mountain to watch the drama unfold.
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