Cape Town - The Stellenbosch Municipality and one of the first golf courses in the country have quietly settled their publicised lease dispute over 73.4ha of land.
The two entities settled on R1.5 million, with the final tranche of R586 885 in January 2021.
For years, the golf course owners had been paying a nominal amount until the municipality re-evaluated their lease from R1 000 to R135 000 per year in 2011.
This would have meant the golf course would have paid just R11 250 per month for the extensive piece of land from 2011.
However, the golf course owners refused at the time to cough up until the case was taken for arbitration in 2018.
Up until the evaluation, municipal documents seen by the Cape Argus show that rent for the smallest farm at 0.31 hectares was R345 per year in Stellenbosch.
Rent for the golf course, at 70.4ha and nestled in the rolling farm hills of Stellenbosch, was R1 000 per year in 2011.
Most of the leases on the 2011 evaluation report pre-dated 1994.
Published by the Weekend Argus in 2018, the lease took national centre stage at the height of the land debate.
This week, the golf course’s manager Chris van der Merwe said they had settled and paid R1.5m for the period of July 2012 and June 2017.
“We paid the outstanding rates in four tranches – R500 000 on February 2, 2020; R500 000 on August 31, 2020; and R586 885 on January 10, 2021,” Van der Merwe said.
“We settled before the arbitration (matter was heard) and the arbitrator made it an order.”
Before 2011, they did not pay any rates because “we argued it is a sport facility”. The golf course now pays R151 676.80 in annual property rates, he said.
Over the years, the golf course has been known for hosting the Stellenbosch mayoral golf day, the proceeds of which go to the Mayoral Fund.
Stellenbosch Municipality spokesperson Stuart Grobelaar said: “There was a dispute with the golf club on outstanding monies. It was settled and the golf club paid the money in terms of the settlement agreement. All outstanding amounts owed to the municipality have been paid in full.”
He did not respond to questions about how much the property pays in rent after the arbitration process, and whether the outcome of the arbitration was published or submitted in council.
A former councillor in the fifth administration, Franklin Adams, said he could remember the item because of the land aspect of it.
“The item (the settlement) was in council, but referred back to the administration.”
The late EFF councillor Derrick Hendrickse had previously suggested council terminate the lease with the golf course and requested the municipality sell it for R10 million a hectare.