Former State president PW Botha’s sprawling Southern Cape retreat has been sold for R8-million to a South African buyer.
The property in the Wilderness Lake Area went under the hammer yesterday, during an auction at the Crystal Towers Hotel.
Auction Alliance’s Helen Ward was not able to confirm the opening bid, but said that at the final bang of the gavel it was sold for R8-million to a “private individual”.
Ward said the sale was subject to a 15-day confirmation period. Only after this, she said, would the winning bidder’s name be released.
Ismail Hendricks, also from Auction Alliance, said there had been four bidders from Cape Town and Gauteng in the running.
The property includes Botha’s log cabin and two farms, and the future owner also bags Botha’s zebra skin rug - he shot the animal himself - as well as a signed wall plaque.
Apart from the log cabin, the estate also has three other structures built on it.
When the auction was announced at the beginning of March, the manager of the selling process, JP Le Roux, said it was attracting strong interest from local buyers, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Botha’s more well-known Garden Route estate, Die Anker, was sold to businessman Sango Ntsaluba in 2008 for R4-million.
Botha, also known as the “Groot Krokodil”, retired to Die Anker and died there of a heart attack in 2006. - Cape Argus