Famed Cape homestead ‘left to go to rack and ruin’
A SANParks eviction bid is the latest drama in Ratelrivier farm’s long and sometimes troubled history
● Things have not always gone smoothly at the historic Ratelrivier farm in the Agulhas National Park — first an abused slave put a curse on it, then it was rocked by a scandalous murder of passion, and now it is at the centre of an eviction battle pitting SANParks against the tourism concession holders.
SANParks, fed up with the way the concession holders are running the operation, cancelled their contract three years ago — but they refused to leave.
Now it has hired outside lawyers to obtain an eviction order.
And the Agulhas Heritage Society (AHS) has complained to Heritage Western Cape about the condition of the buildings and the farmyard, saying they are in “an appalling state of neglect”.
“It is evident that the property is currently used as a retreat for the concession holders and their friends, and not for the initial purpose of attracting tourists to the area,” the society said in a letter dated February 26.
The Sunday Times visited the site with members of the AHS late last month — eight years since the concession tender was signed — and found little sign of the tourism development SANParks had envisaged.
The grounds are littered with broken black plastic rubbish bags leaking garbage, crates of empty beer bottles and other detritus.
A car wreck is rusting next to the former stables, and old vehicle tyres have been dumped nearby.
“The roof of the historic main homestead is in a shocking state,” the AHS says in its letter. “Water is leaking onto the ceiling in multiple places.
“Windowpane frames, as well as the wooden doors, are falling apart and need paint urgently.”
When asked about the condition of the property, SANParks spokesperson Rey Thakhuli did not respond to the issue directly, but said: “The public-private partnership agreements for [the] Ratelrivier and Rietfontein properties were terminated in 2021.”
The Rietfontein farm is also part of the concession, which was originally granted to Yzerfontein lawyer Sakkie de Villiers and Cape Town entrepreneur Fikiswa Fesi in 2016. De Villiers soon transferred his interest to Fesi, who formed a joint venture to operate it with Greg Louw, a community activist from Hangberg in Hout Bay, and Salie Davids, a Cape Town businessman.
When asked about the cancellation of the agreement, Fesi said this month: “There is no such thing. Did they give you a letter to say it was terminated? I’m asking you, did they show you correspondence to confirm that? I do not have any correspondence.”
But Louw acknowledged the dispute with SANParks, describing it as a racist effort to oust the joint venture because its members were people of colour.
“Right from the beginning, they set us up for failure ... There was never the intention to give black people access to that facility,” he said. “I will make it a racial issue. If they want
me to pick it up on that basis, I will. Because that is the full agenda of it.”
Louw accused SANParks of trying to kick the joint venture out so that “a senior SANParks manager” who was due to retire soon could take over the concession.
Thakhuli responded: “SANParks wants to put on record that the allegations made by Greg Louw are baseless and fabricated to detract from the real contractual issues emanating from the now-terminated concession agreement between SANParks and the former concession.
“SANParks will therefore not dignify these allegations with a response, save to say that SANParks as a public entity is bound by the public procurement laws regulating public entities.
“The contractual issues ... will be ventilated in court, and SANParks will not make any public pronouncements on the matter until such time.”
Louw said SANParks’ internal legal division had been trying since 2021 to get the joint venture to leave, but late last year it hired an external law firm to begin eviction proceedings.
“We don’t have the money the state has, so they are riding on that ticket — and hoping for us to buckle and get off from that facility,” Louw said.
Fesi had a “small” role in the joint venture, while Davids was the major shareholder. Davids had invested R4m in Ratelrivier, Louw said.
Despite the termination of the contract, the joint venture is still accepting bookings for accommodation — at up to R3,000 a night for a 10-person unit in high season.
When asked about the concerns of the AHS, Louw said: “SANParks, I’ll be blunt — look, they’re all in cahoots.”
The entire Agulhas National Park, including Ratelrivier, is part of a Unesco World Heritage Site declared in 2015.
In the 1830s, a slave who was brutally punished by the then owner is said to have placed a curse on the property, which was first settled by Dutch colonists in the mid1700s. In 1871 the new owner shot and killed his wife in fit of jealousy after she danced too closely with a guest at a party.
The murder features in novels by Dalene Mathee — Die Uitgespoeldes, translated into English as Driftwood — and Chanette Paul’s Murasie (Ruins).
Its owners since then have included English gentry, who imported foxhounds for hunt gatherings.