Mark Thatcher’s luxury nine-bedroomed home in Cape Town’s Constantia Valley has been sold for a price which, says agent Mike Greeff, is the highest ever reached in the suburb.
Although he said he was ”not at liberty” to reveal the price, the previous top price for a property in the upmarket Valley is understood to have been R16-million.
Greeff, who is chief executive of Greeff Properties, also revealed that Thatcher, who last month pleaded guilty to helping bankroll a botched coup in Equatorial Guinea, has asked him to look for another home ”in the Cape”.
Asked whether Thatcher had sold because he was looking for something in a lower price range, Greeff said: ”I’m not aware of why, but I would imagine his requirements have changed.”
He said the 1 500 square metre property, with thatched dwelling, had been bought by the Sahara Group, known internationally as sponsors of cricket and in South Africa as the backers of the Newlands and other grounds.
The attorneys dealing with the sale had confirmed that the property was handed over on February 10, and that ”all the financial arrangements are in place”.
”Some three” serious buyers had been interested in the property and the negotiation had continued for several months before the deal was concluded.
Greeff Properties also claim to have sold the highest priced home in neighbouring Bishopscourt — where the buyer was Teodore Obiang, a son of the president of Equatorial Guinea.
Last month, in a plea bargain agreement with the Scorpions, Thatcher admitted financing a helicopter despite suspecting it would be used in the Equatorial Guinea coup bid.
Under the agreement, made an order of court by a Cape High Court judge on January 13, Thatcher received a four-year suspended sentence in addition to a R3-million fine.
He left South Africa the same day to join his wife and children overseas.
French news agency Agence France Presse reported on Friday he has arrived back in the country ahead of a court hearing next week when he is due to answer questions from Equatorial Guinea prosecutors about the coup plot in the oil-rich west African country. – Sapa