{"id":852890,"date":"2026-03-05T06:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852890"},"modified":"2026-03-05T11:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:03:17","slug":"300-year-old-south-african-wine-farm-once-owned-by-anc-politician-on-sale-for-r180-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/852890\/300-year-old-south-african-wine-farm-once-owned-by-anc-politician-on-sale-for-r180-million\/","title":{"rendered":"300-year-old South African wine farm once owned by ANC politician on sale for R180 million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A historic South African wine farm linked to a former politician and anti-apartheid activist is set for auction this month, with brokers seeking bids of at least R180 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemendal Wine Estate in the country\u2019s Cape Winelands, a region known as the Napa Valley of Africa, will go on sale as an operating and profitable business on 25 March, according to a bid package prepared by Rawson Auctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 238-hectare (588-acre) holding includes restaurants, a winery, a wine-tasting room, a manor house, stables and conference facilities, the document showed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemendal dates back more than 300 years, established in 1702, originally supplying Dutch East India Company ships sailing around the Cape of Good Hope with\u00a0fresh produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It features the historic Kanonberg, where cannons once signalled that fresh produce was ready for passing ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate\u2019s modern winemaking legacy began in 1920 when Jannie van der Westhuizen built the first cellar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His grandson, Jackie Coetzee, later established its global reputation for “boutique” quality, officially registering it as an Estate in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, ownership shifted from the founding family to a subsidiary of Mvelaphanda Holdings, founded by anti-apartheid icon Tokyo Sexwale, for R105 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this era, the farm maintained its focus on premium Sauvignon Blanc while diversifying into hospitality with the Bloemendal Trail Park and various restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sexwale went on to become the first democratically elected premier of Gauteng, the province that\u2019s home to South Africa\u2019s commercial hub of Johannesburg, in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left politics four years later and amassed a fortune in business, including through investments in mining. It’s unclear who currently owns the farm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, it\u2019s known for award-winning wines made from varietals including chenin blanc, chardonnay, pinotage and cabernet sauvignon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The auction comes after an attempt to sell the estate last year collapsed. Brokers now require bidders to submit offers with proof of funds of at least R200 million as well as verified identity and tax-registration documents prior to the auction.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A non-refundable deposit amounting to 5% of the purchase price is payable on acceptance of an offer to purchase, with the balance due within 14 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1990s, Sexwale\u2014along with current President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2014was seen as a potential, if long-shot, candidate to succeed Nelson Mandela. In the end, Thabo Mbeki became the second democratic-era leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reported with Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bloemendal Wine Estate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A historic South African wine farm linked to a former politician and anti-apartheid activist is set for auction this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":852893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[24922,853],"class_list":["post-852890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-bloemendal-wine-estate","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852946,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852890\/revisions\/852946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}