R60m folly by the sea

The ultramodern mansion owned by a company associated with African Bank founder Leon Kirkinis is up for sale. The price tag: R60-million.

The mansion known as African Bank House sprang up in the small coastal town of Rooi Els, about an hour's drive from Cape Town. It is owned by Upbeatprops 167, a company that, until recently, listed Kirkinis as one of its two directors.

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The fortunes of Kirkinis - who as recently as November purchased shares in African Bank Investment Limited worth more than R112-million - dwindled to a fraction of that as investors sold off in the final days before the bank was placed under curatorship.

Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank announced that it had appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate African Bank. Headed by advocate John Myburgh, the commission has five months to determine whether the bank engaged in its business recklessly and whether questionable management practices were employed.

Myburgh will have to name those responsible.

The Financial Services Board directorate for market abuse confirmed that it has also requested documents from African Bank but had not launched an official investigation.

The house put up for sale has hi-tech features and imported fittings that have set tongues wagging in the sleepy town.

The company bought the property for R3.7-million in 1998. The municipal valuation now estimates it at R4.5-million.

But a neighbour said the house cost about R50-million to build and would now fetch about R100-million. Other houses in the area were valued at about R3-million.

The house was built by engineers brought in from the Netherlands and Germany, say locals. Its gate, fridges and sliding doors can be controlled with the press of a cellphone button.

A bathroom has a R28000 shower head, one of the fittings imported from Switzerland and Germany.

The dining room is also hi-tech, with pop-up dining tables and utensils, neighbours say.

Storage rooms are computerised and the 30m-long balcony, mounted on steel poles, can be lowered and raised.

There are 160m of sliding doors that are controlled hydraulically to change the shapes of the rooms. An advert for the house on Acquire Africa's website says: "All the external walls are sliding, folding glass doors and are filtered by slatted timber shutters, which open hydraulically to become verandas when open and a continuous secure screen when closed."

It was designed by Elphick Proome Architects of Durban.

"The home is a model of design excellence [and] ecological sensitivity ." says the advert.

"The steel-frame structure rises dramatically out of the dunes on steel legs and dominates the coastal village's skyline and shoreline. With views across the ocean and across to Cape Point, towards Hangklip and the surrounding mountains makes this residence a one-of-a-kind."

The home is set on 1.47ha, with the building 450m 2. .

Kirkinis stepped down as CEO last month after announcing that African Bank Investments Limited expected a loss of at least R7.6-billion for the year.

The following day the company's furniture retail unit, Ellerine Holdings, started business-rescue proceedings and by the end of that week trading in Abil shares was suspended, having plummeted more than 95% in only a few days.

Another former executive of the bank, Tami Sokutu, reportedly said "f*** the poor" when asked about the plight of those struggling to repay unsecured loans. He boasted about owning six cars, including a Porsche, which he said was parked "somewhere in the world - I don't know where".

African Bank received a R10-billion rescue package from the Reserve Bank and other financial institutions and was placed under curatorship.