Councillors shoot down R7m purchase offer for property in Mill Park
The historic Port Elizabeth Golf Club has come in low and offered R7-million to buy the land it rents for only R20 a year from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. But the offer made on Tuesday infuriated councillors who sat in on a human settlements standing committee.
The PE Golf Club, on erf 148 Mill Park – also known as The Hill – is the second-oldest golf club in South Africa.
Presenting a proposed development framework to the committee, Port Elizabeth Golf Club projects committee chairman Alan Orchard said the development project would have an emphasis on supporting Bay companies.
“We believe that this would certainly stimulate tourism,” he said.
“The property is located in one of PE’s affluent suburbs and the proposal includes a variety of smaller houses.
“The proposed housing development is set to include 156 single residential houses, 148 apartments and 33 townhouses.
“We also want to preserve a lot of the green zone and not build too many houses because, at the end of the day, we still want to play golf.”
But councillors were not convinced, saying the presentation lacked detail on how it would benefit the greater Port Elizabeth community.
At an earlier human settlements standing committee meeting in May, the club found itself in the rough after it emerged that it pays only R20 rent a year for premium land it hopes to buy and develop to keep itself afloat.
Speaking at the meeting on Tuesday, human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga said it did not make sense that the club was only offering R7-million when the Arlington Golf Course, which calculated the price at R1-million a hectare, had made an offer of R66-million.
“I am worried about the amount offered [by the PE Golf Club] if we cannot get out of this lease,” he said.
“We have two choices to sell, but not at R7-million. I don’t agree.
“My conscience is not clear at selling this land at this price, unless there is another price. We will invite interested developers to make presentations on future developments.”
Bhanga said the municipality would now consult with legal advisers on the possibility of cancelling the lease agreement with the Port Elizabeth Golf Club.
“Those are the terms in which we will develop, because there will be development in that area.
“I’m raising this as we must not limit our scope to the golf club on what can be developed because we must be able to decide whether or not we want a golf course on that piece of land or another kind of development.
“If there’s any other thing that will promote the city bigger than the golf course, we should also consider that.”
DA councillor Duncan Moss also questioned how the development would promote inclusivity.
“We understand that you’re going for a golf course, but we also have to ensure that the benefits incorporate the ability for different forms of housing right down to RDP housing,” Moss said.
