What?!? I nearly splurted out my Starbucks cappuccino when I read this Sunday Times headline;
For sale: One iconic Cape mountain, R12m
Image from twenty9 Frames.
“One of Cape Town’s iconic mountain peaks is up for sale — but so far nobody has been brave enough to buy it.
Touted as a dream investment, Sentinel mountain, overlooking Hout Bay, is at the centre of an escalating property row involving local government officials, conservationists, and a landless community on the mountain slopes.
The 11ha sweep of indigenous fynbos and towering rock with postcard views of the Cape Peninsula is on the market for R12-million — about the price of a bungalow along the Atlantic seaboard a few kilometers away. It is owned by a close corporation, G and R Marine.
Potential buyers are being put off by a heated land-use row. Not only is the neighbouring landless community of Hangberg up in arms about the sale , but other city residents and authorities are fuming over the valuable piece of natural heritage that many believe should not be in private hands.
But Hout Bay estate agent Rainer Kloos, acting on behalf of the Sentinel landowners, said there was no threat of commercial development on the property. Kloos said: “ Nobody wants to develop it. The sellers themselves are mindful of it being a national treasure. There will be no Hilton on top of the Sentinel.”
Dan Plato, the City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for service delivery integration, said the city could not intervene in a private sale — and could not afford the Sentinel plot “for that mammoth amount of money”.
“It’s a double edged sword: Hout Bay is blessed with magnificent scenery, but that means you get developers wanting to make a quick buck. But nobody wants the mountain to have houses on it. We would urge the owner to cede the property to the park ,” Swimmer said. — jordanb@sundaytimes.co.za
Wait, somebody owns this mountain? I remember the days when Michael Jackson wanted to build his getaway lodge on Chappies but his offer was fiercely hosed down by the hippies from both sides of the mountain…the Noorhoek blomme-kinds from the left & the Houtbaai boom-drukke on the right.
Inside sources of the Bay, tell me there is a protest meeting up in the harbour tonight, should you want to join in on the action. Apparently the last one got a little heated, with a few “throw you with a stone” incidinces. Imagine some big investor getting a klap on the back of his head just as he was squeezing into his Beemer.
Well we better keep this info to ourselves because these Dubai developers would eat this mountain for breakfast. With one glass penthouse overlooking Sandy Bay…
Bongo Baby in Dubai 