Johann Rupert, SA’s wealth­i­est per­son, says he and his asso­ciates will take on review the decision by the Nko­manzi Valu­ation Appeal Board to slap a valu­ation of R1.3bn on the Leo­pards Creek golf estate.

Rupert told Busi­ness Day they have no choice but to seek judi­cial recourse in a long­ drawn dis­pute that has seen the parties spend a for­tune lit­ig­at­ing.

‘The decision by the Valu­ation Appeal Board is per­plex­ing as it has already been over­turned by the SCA. They ignored the courts,’ Rupert said. 

The SCA in 2024 ruled the Valu­ation Appeal Board of the Ehlan­zeni dis­trict in Mpumalanga erred in ignor­ing expert evid­ence brought by Leo­pard Creek in its valu­ation dis­pute with the Nko­mazi Muni­cip­al­ity.

The court then ruled that a dif­fer­ently con­sti­tuted Valu­ation Appeal Board be set up to eval­u­ate the prop­erty’s value. It is this board that has ruled that the prop­erty is worth R1.3bn, in line with what the pre­vi­ous appeal board ruled.

Leo­pard Creek, which hosts the annual Alfred Dun­hill Cup, is on the banks of the Cro­codile River and bor­ders the Kruger National Park.

The 355ha facil­ity has an 18-hole golf course designed by Gary Player, a club­house com­plex meas­ur­ing 3 600 square metres, about 97 res­id­en­tial sites, ten­nis and squash courts, a swim­ming pool and a gym, among other facil­it­ies.

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