Gupta Saxonwold mansions back up for sale – at a huge 63% discount
Two multi-million rand South African mansions owned by the Gupta brothers are back on the market in Johannesburg, selling at a massive discount.
The Guptas are a trio of India-born businessmen at the centre of a corruption scandal that triggered the nation’s worst political and economic crisis since apartheid.
The seven-bedroom home—where the family allegedly lived—complete with an indoor swimming pool, thatched outdoor entertainment area, mini cricket pitch, water features and a garden with endangered cycad plants, was listed Wednesday.
This was alongside a neighbouring 11-bedroom house that boasted a beauty parlour, a cinema lounge and a rooftop terrace.
The homes in Saxonwold, one of Johannesburg’s oldest and most affluent neighbourhoods, once belonged to a company linked to Atul, Rajesh and Ajay Gupta and form part of a compound that features in a scandal known locally as state capture.
A government-backed judicial inquiry that investigated graft involving more than 1,400 people and entities in 2018 heard that the brothers held clandestine meetings at the properties.
There, influential guests were offered kickbacks and even government positions to help the family and their associates influence government decisions and to secure contracts.
The new listings come after a private sale of the homes last year fell through. The two properties sold at auction last year for around R31.2 million—47%, below their pre-listed value.
At the time of the 2025 auction, the pre-listing valuation of the two properties was around R59 million.
Now the two properties are on the market with asking prices of R10 million and R12 million, respectively. Lower offers may be considered, according to online advertisements.
This means that the 47% discount has been extended even further, with the R22 million combined price of the properties 63% lower than the original valuation.
A third house was also part of the original auction package.
This property was listed as under offer in June at a sale price of R4 million. Notice was given for the property to be demolished to make way for a new building at the time.
A hard sell
The property managers said that it has been tough to shake the stigma attached to the properties.
“We’ve been battling to find buyers due to the stigma associated with the properties, and because of the poor state they’re in,” said Kurt Knoop of Manci Knoop Financial Services, the business-rescue practitioners for Confident Concept.
Confident Concept is the Gupta-linked company that owned the properties and entered into a local form of bankruptcy protection in 2018.
“But we have been talking to a couple of people and hope to have a sale soon.”
Proceeds from the sale of the properties will help settle claims by creditors, he said.
An open house is scheduled to take place this weekend, with interested parties required to show identification and proof of funds before viewing, the listing shows.
The brothers fled to Dubai shortly before the ruling African National Congress forced Jacob Zuma to quit as president in 2018 to stem a loss of electoral support, partly due to his links to the family.
The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing.
Atul and Rajesh—wanted in South Africa on charges including money laundering and fraud, and sanctioned by both the US and UK governments—were arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2022 after Interpol placed them on its most-wanted list.
In 2023, a UAE court denied South Africa’s extradition request, and the arrest warrant was cancelled. South Africa provisionally withdrew its arrest warrant for Ajay in 2019.
With Bloomberg
No. 5 Saxonwold Drive
No. 7 Saxonwold Drive
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