Former world-class hotel and golf course in South Africa in ruins after land claim

·1 Nov 2025

The Fish River Sun, a world-class hotel and 18-hole golf course designed by Gary Player in the Eastern Cape, has fallen into disrepair, and the golf course is overgrown.

Sol Kerzner, the founder of Sun International, developed and opened the Fish River Sun resort in 1989.

The resort was built in the former Ciskei as part of Kerzner’s strategy to open casino operations in the independent apartheid-era homelands.

At the time, gambling was illegal in South Africa. However, it was permitted in the homelands, such as Bophuthatswana and Ciskei.

Kerzner modelled the Fish River Sun on his flagship Sun City resort. It was an entertainment destination featuring a hotel, casino, and golf course.

The hotel is situated in the heart of the Eastern Cape’s popular Sunshine Coast nestled between the Great Fish River and Old Woman’s River.

It is approximately 1.2 km away from the Indian Ocean, and the setting lends itself to breathtaking glimpses of this expanse of water.

Apart from the magnificent 18-hole golf course, designed by Gary Player, it also offered excellent conference and event facilities.

“Your children can enjoy all the great entertainment of Kamp Kwena Children’s Club, while you enjoy all the activities and facilities we have on offer,” Sun International said.

The Fish River Sun hotel featured 83 rooms, including 75 double rooms, three 3-bedroom inter-leading rooms, and a presidential suite.

The Fish River Sun Vacation Club self-catering units all had RCI Gold Crown Status and received a 4-star rating from the Tourism Grading Council.

The resort also had four restaurants and bars, including the Wahoo Restaurant, Castaways Shore Side Retreat, and the Kontiki Club House.

It featured a children’s adventure playground, an on-site doctor and dentist, guided nature walks, a large swimming pool, and sports greens.

Fish River Sun land claim

After the end of apartheid and democratic elections in 1994, new national gambling laws were introduced in South Africa.

The casino license for the Fish River Sun was eventually transferred to the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino in Port Elizabeth in 1999.

This put strain on the resort, but the biggest blow was a protracted land claim by the local Prudhoe community, which complicated its ownership and future viability.

In the late nineties, three separate communities, Mazazini, Prudhoe and Tharfield, claimed that they were the rightful owners of the Fish River Sun’s land.

Over the next two decades, there were numerous legal battles over who the rightful claimants of the land were.

On 10 April 2018, the Land Claims Court gave the Prudhoe community ownership of the Fish River Sun farms.

However, by then, the damage had already been done. The uncertainty surrounding the land claim and financial pressure led to the closure of the Fish River Resort in 2017.

Although the conclusion of the land claim was seen as a new chapter of prosperity for the community, the opposite happened.

Mismanagement, internal divisions, and disputed lease agreements have left their R243 million land claim, including the Fish River Sun resort, paralysed.

South African Lawyer reported that it has been a legal and administrative nightmare over conflicting contracts signed with rival developers and unfulfilled promises of jobs.

The Fish River Sun collapsed

In May 2023, personnel and the staff of the resort were chased away by a gang which demanded money and jobs.

Travel News reported that “from Friday to Sunday, wholesale looting and destruction of property took place”.

“Every single room in the property was broken into, and TVs, fridges, bedding, cutlery, computers, projectors, and all IT equipment were stolen.”

“A Quantum minibus was stripped down to a mere shell. Sources said vehicles with trailers were brought in to carry away the goods.”

On 2 May 2023, Athol Trollip posted pictures of the Fish River Sun Hotel, shown below, following the looting by the gang.

MahalaX, a digital company with a 49-year lease to maintain the property for the benefit of the Prudhoe Community, said it decided to walk away following the attack.

This week, Jason Gordon from the group Stop Destroying RSA posted a video of the current state of the Fish River Sun Hotel and Golf Resort.

He highlighted that the world-class Gary Player golf course is now overgrown and, essentially, non-existent.

He added that the hotel and chalets, once among the best establishments in the region, have been plundered and now lie in ruins.

Plans to rebuild the Fish River Sun resort

In June 2025, the Daily Dispatch reported that a consortium of South African and international investors plans to revive the resort.

The consortium is spearheaded by property mogul Xoliswa Daku of the Daku Group, which previously partnered with the late Sol Kerzner’s Kerzner International.

It said executives from the multinational hotel group The Lux Collective, along with investors from Dubai, have visited the resort.

The Lux Collective reportedly wants to make the former Fish River Sun resort the flagship of its South African portfolio.

The group had R600 million ready to start the first phase of the project to revive the resort to its former glory.

However, soon afterwards, reports surfaced that the redevelopment plan was in chaos, with no clear developer in complete control, competing claims, and legal intervention.

The independent administrators are now reviewing the trust’s affairs, including which contracts are lawful, the financial situation, and how to proceed.

It’s unclear which developer will ultimately proceed, how the community will be assured of jobs, and when the resort will finally be revived.