Although the KwaZulu-Natal gambling board has not yet opened tenders for its casino licences, certain celebrities are vying for the best sites. Ann Eveleth reports
FILM star Omar Sharif and former Inkatha Freedom Party secretary general Oscar Dhlomo are among those vying for Durban’s potentially lucrative casino licence.
The actor, best known for his roles in Dr Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, is bidding through his company Omar Sharif Southern Africa to build the casino on the Village Green site on the north beach of Durban’s waterfront.
Dhlomo chairs Afrisun Leisure Investments, a consortium which includes Sun International and his own company, Dynamo Investments.
The province’s gambling board has not yet opened tenders for the province’s five casino licences, but Durban’s metropolitan council is wasting no time setting its sights on a piece of the action.
The city’s land transaction manager, Mike Andrews, told the Mail & Guardian that the city had already completed a survey to identify the best piece of council land for a casino complex.
Five sites had been evaluated. An invitation late last year for undertakings from interested parties drew nine responses from companies interested in buying the Village Green site for R60-million if they won the Durban casino licence.
The closing date for parties to sign a statement of intent with the city has been extended to April 30 owing to continuing interest.
Other companies in the running include QwaBani Investments, a Malaysian- and British-backed South African consortium led by Durban billionaire Vivian Reddy’s associate Sam Prakash; Tsogo Sun Holdings, a black empowerment consortium led by Southern Sun; Three Cities Hotels, a group linked to plans for a casino at Johannesburg’s ailing Carlton Centre; and United States-based Hyatt Regency Casinos.
Andrews said the Hyatt group was also involved in negotiations with the city to manage an R800-million hotel complex near the Westville Pavilion shopping centre.
Omar Sharif Southern Africa’s managing director Mannie Hirsch said the South Africa-based consortium was linked to Sharif’s Worldwide Games, but included local partners.
He said that the consortium – which is also bidding to build both a casino near Soweto and in the Free State – was separate from Sharif’s controversial joint venture with the African National Congress Women’s League.
Dhlomo said Afrisun – which also counts Real Africa Investments and Thebe Investments’s leisure subsidiary Moribo among its partners – was soon due to launch publicly. The consortium would also bid for licences in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
QwaBani’s Prakash declined to name his partners, but said Reddy would not be involved “as far as I am aware”.
Prakash and Reddy are partners in a separate joint venture – Sam-Sisonke – with Malaysian firm Asia-Pacific. Last year the firm was allegedly linked to aborted efforts to pick up the bill for the Department of Health’s ill-fated Aids play, Sarafina II.