{"id":877465,"date":"2026-09-29T15:48:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=877465"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:48:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:48:42","slug":"south-african-billionaire-funding-new-r341-million-precinct-in-johannesburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/877465\/south-african-billionaire-funding-new-r341-million-precinct-in-johannesburg\/","title":{"rendered":"South African billionaire funding new R341 million precinct in Johannesburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) has announced plans to develop a new R341 million Cultural Precinct in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, largely funded by South African billionaire, Chris Seabrooke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The precinct is a major investment by the university in the arts, creating a lifestyle hub for arts, culture, performance, heritage, and creative innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be built on the university’s south-eastern edge in Braamfontein and will contribute to the regeneration of Johannesburg’s inner city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development is expected to take five years and will integrate and link Wits\u2019 existing arts, performance and heritage facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding for the project will largely come from a significant donation from Wits alumnus Chris Seabrooke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seabrooke is an investor and financier who has served on the boards of 27 stock exchange-listed companies over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has also served as the former Chairman of the State Theatre of South Africa and as Deputy Chairman of the inaugural National Arts Council of South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He currently serves as the CEO of Sabvest Capital Limited, which he founded in 1988, which currently has a market value of R5.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seabrooke donated 1.4 million shares held by the Seabrooke Family Trust to the Wits Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wits will have the right to sell the donated shares via block trades or in the market over the estimated five-year term of the project to provide the necessary liquidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wits said this will fund the majority of the estimated capital cost of R341 million needed to build the Precinct, with Wits co-investing the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seabrooke has an economic interest of just under 39% in Sabvest after the donation, placing his estimated net worth at approximately R2.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The arts have an extraordinary ability to bring people together and to change the character of a place,\u201d Seabrooke said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hope is that this investment will enable Wits to create a precinct that belongs not only to its students, staff and academics, but to Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want to help build a place that attracts people to Braamfontein, supports creativity and leaves a cultural legacy for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi (left) and Chris Seabrooke (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What the new precinct will offer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The precinct will offer new and upgraded academic facilities, theatres, exhibition and performance spaces and enhanced lifestyle areas, opening more of Wits\u2019 creative life to Joburgers, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first phase of the precinct will feature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The Wits Art Museum, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A state-of-the-art Digital Arts building<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • An additional floor for the Wits School of Arts. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The next phase will consolidate Wits\u2019 Music facilities, a new exhibition and foyer spaces, Fine Arts facilities, the Wits Theatre Amphitheatre and a new building and rooftop extension that will open up the Wits Theatre Complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Restaurants, coffee shops, bookshops, and other lifestyle spaces will be incorporated into the Precinct, Wits said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Notably, the Cultural Precinct is located within a wider Johannesburg cultural ecosystem that includes the Joburg Theatre, the Market Theatre, SciBono, the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct and the Constitutional Court, amongst others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe University and the City of Johannesburg have grown together for more than a century. We cannot separate the future of the University from the future of this City,” said Wits Vice Chancellor, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “The Cultural Precinct is about opening Wits to Johannesburg and creating spaces where students, artists, scholars and the public can meet, create and exchange ideas,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wits University has announced plans to develop a new R341 million Cultural Precinct in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":877477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2104931462940078083","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2220680612085671","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17874831150583306","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-877465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877465","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877465"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":877485,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877465\/revisions\/877485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}