A bid is being made to block development of the Sentinel mountain in Hout Bay which is controversially up for sale, Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) said on Wednesday.
”The property is entirely inappropriate for any form of development,” said the organisation’s planning manager Mike Slayen in a statement.
”SANParks is in the final steps of buying the lower section of the controversial Sentinel Mountain.
”If the sale goes ahead it will leave the ‘top’ section of the mountain — for which a conditional offer of R10-million has allegedly been presented –‘landlocked’.”
Slayen said the purchase of the lower property would allow SANParks to incorporate the land into the national park, and road access across this land would be ”vigorously opposed”.
The Sentinel consists of two properties, an upper one of 10ha and a lower one of six, neither of which have any residential properties on them.
Slayen said the lower property was being acquired by SANParks for R800 000 for ”conservation purposes” and would be managed as part of the TMNP.
Once the sale went through, the upper property would then be encircled by the Atlantic Ocean and TMNP-owned land.
”SANParks is opposed to any development of the lower or upper Sentinel properties due to their visual and ecological sensitivity and heritage importance as an iconic landscape of the Cape Peninsula,” he said.
In 2003 the upper land was apparently brought by G&R Marine Services for R60 000. According to a 2006 municipal valuation it was worth R120 000.
This week an unknown bidder apparently put in an offer of R10-million for the upper property, subject to conditions that had not been made public.
”SANParks has consistently offered to buy this property for R500 000, based on professional property valuations.”
Last month, an auction of the mountain peak was cancelled after a protest.
Police fired rubber bullets at a group of about 100 stone-throwing people who gathered at the site. The protesters said the mountain belonged to the indigenous people of South Africa and could not belong to a private owner.
A recent report in the Sunday Times said the 321m-high Cape Town landmark in Hout Bay had come to the attention of celebrities and tycoons including talkshow host Oprah Winfrey, hotel magnate Sol Kerzner, Donald Trump Jnr as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The new owners could, if they wished, name the peak after themselves as the Sentinel was not a registered trademark.
Auctioneers had reportedly turned down two offers, including one for R15-million. — Sapa