I’m not bragging, but ...
Nobody: How did you spend New Year’s Eve? Me: Just hanging out in one of the country’s most expensive villas at an exclusive party with the super-rich and famous, including a tech billionaire and a couple of Hollywood stars.
It all started around 7pm on the last day of 2023 when I arrived at a luxury Clifton mansion perched on a ridge below Lion’s Head in Cape Town.
Past hulking security guards after my name is ticked off the guest list, I head inside and up candlelit stairs onto the deck of the Stefan Antoni-designed architectural marvel known as Luxus Villa. There I sip on a cocktail in front of the rimflow pool, while taking in 270° views that open out from the white sands of Clifton’s beaches to the distinctive Twelve Apostles mountain range.
Up comes Roxy Robinson, who owns an international luxury travel concierge for the jet set (and who put together the party through her events company, the Roxstar Group) to say hello, before introducing me to the man of the mansion, who most of the partygoers know only by his initials, FD.
Our dark-haired host explains that he traditionally hosted a social to kick off the festive season but “everyone kept asking for a New Year’s party”, so he obliged a couple of years ago. As a couple of dancers shimmy to the tunes from the live DJ, I decide to explore the rest of the entertainment deck.
In an enclave is singer Cara Frew (she’s performed at Coachella and Johnny Depp’s Viper Room in LA) and friend Kim Rivalland (who once dated cricketer Jacques Kallis) taking pics at a photo booth against a backdrop of giant metallic balloons.
Near one of two tequila fountains I greet Lee-Ann Liebenberg and husband Nicky van der Walt, who tells me “so many friends from London and Europe are back in town for the season this year”.
Nicky introduces me to someone “who doesn’t do deals for less than R100m” and my ears prick up, realising that Lance Cohen might know how much this 1,120m2 villa, built in 2014, is worth.
“You’ll have to ask the owner,” says the real estate king, who, I hear through the grapevine, sold the prez not one but two of his Fresnaye mansions. Waiters offer canapés such as spicy chicken and pickled ginger cakes topped with lime mayo, crispy chicken bao buns and tons of sushi.
I spot ex-cricketer Herschelle Gibbs with fiancé Dana Németh and catch up with TV producer Alan Ford (through whom I scored an invite to this exclusive do). Out of the corner of my eye I notice a tall, greybearded gent who happens to be one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood.
Josh Duhamel, who has starred in four of the Transformers blockbusters and most recently appeared alongside Jennifer Lopez in Shotgun Wedding, tells me he has been in town since the beginning of
December, filming scenes for an action comedy called London Calling, and is full of praise for the city. “I f***ing love it here,” he enthuses.
The next day I stepped into ’24 by celebrating the milestone of a leading businesswoman who happens to own the largest wind turbine farm in South Africa. The location was a magical glasshouse bordered by magnificent oak trees on the Hazendal wine estate outside Stellenbosch for Linda Mabhena-Olagunju’s 40th birthday on January 1.
“I want to thank the African heat because my daughter is the African heat,” is how mom Pindi Mabhena described her daughter.
Born in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, Linda studied drama at the National School of the Arts before switching to law at UCT, finishing her master’s in oil and gas law at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
The story goes that while working for the local Scottish council, she was introduced to renewables as the port city was developing its first offshore wind farm. Fast forward to Mzansi a couple of years later and Linda founded black female-owned energy company DLO, which now holds a major stake in a Northern Cape wind farm.
I, though, am more intrigued by the beaded lace dress with an architectural shoulder detail that the businesswoman arrives in to ululation by an entourage of Lingomso traditional dancers.
“I’m stepping into my liberation,” says Linda about the gown by Nigerian couture label Lyla Couture (the brief was: like the dress worn by Nigerian singersongwriter Tems to the Oscars last year but without obstructing anyone’s view).
Foodwise, we were served mushroom arancini balls and Thai marinated squid cups as arrival canapés, while the three-course lunch started with a Cape fish potjie followed by a braised oxtail roulade and finished off with a French vanilla with Swiss meringue buttercream birthday cake.
Guests who included Linda’s Nigerian husband, Khalid Olagunju, UCT mate Kiki Mudenda, career coach Vumile Msweli, Swissport CEO Khangi Khoza and Grindrod bank’s Zizipho Nyanga got a taste of the dramatic side of the larger than life energy empress.
Outside in the garden area where a stage was set up, Linda showed her prowess with sabrage, deftly disgorging the cork off a bottle of bubbly with a sword, and surprised her guests with an entertaining dance routine.