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News
PW Botha's Wilderniss home up for auction
The home that State President PW Botha retired to in 1989 after being forced out of the Presidency is up for public auction by instruction of the heirs of his Deceased Estate. Botha, known as the “Groot Krokodil” passed away in 2006 at the age of 90 and despite being an Apartheid President and vilified by the ANC in exile was afforded full presidential rights and offered a state burial.
Botha had three daughters and two sons from his first marriage with Elize Rossouw whom he married in 1943. After Elize's death in 1997 Botha married his British born wife Barbara Robertson whom he spent his last years with at their house 'De Anker'. On the 31 October 2006, Botha passed away at the age of 90 at the house and was found dead in bed by his wife Barbara.
A day after Botha's death, the Director-General in the presidency office Rev Frank Chikane visited Botha's family at the home to present an offer for a state funeral and other forms of assistance to this former state president. When responding to the state offer, Mrs Botha said her husband had not wanted a state funeral. "He was not a man that looked for honour and glory," she said.
Botha left strict orders in his will that his children divide between themselves items specifically bequeathed to them outside of the estate, like the house.
The home on the banks of the Touws River, valued at the time for R5million, was put on the market in December 2006 amid great family controversy because the property is in a trust and Botha’s children and grandchildren did not reached agreement on either its value or what to do with the property.
The five Botha children left the home vacant and untended since Botha’s widow, Barbara, moved out last November. Botha stipulated in his will that Barbara – left just a car – could stay in the home for only a year after his death.
In a May report in the Weekend Post it was reported that Botha‘s daughter, Amelia Pasche, and her brothers, Pieter and Rossouw, who live abroad, have said their father‘s last wishes were ignored by the estate‘s executors.
De Anker hit the market with much fanfare when George estate agents set up a huge “For Sale” banner on the balcony and put up signs on the property. These have since been removed and now the property is being auctioned by the Alliance Group on Saturday 18th October.
The house first went on the market in January 1998 when Botha wanted to buy a R2-million sea-facing home in Victoria Bay. However, the purchase did not materialise and Die Anker, which estate agents said at the time could fetch R2-million, was eventually taken off the market. Rossouw, Botha‘s youngest son, also inherited the family farm Soli Deo Gloria, behind Wilderness Heights, where the former president and Elize are buried.
Alliance Group company spokesman, Bradley Stephens, would not be drawn into any comment about the Botha Estate nor the family controversy surrounding its sale. All he would say is that the home is perfectly situated on the banks of the river and “is a spacious and gracious home, which is ripe for modernisation and development”. According to Stephens the home has ample accommodation and was designed for state functions offering many reception rooms and five bedrooms. “ It is steeped in history and the list of dignitaries and well known personalities that have visited it, ranks it up their as a property of historical significance”.
The auction of the home is causing much sensation and news in the picturesque Southern Cape town who have been missing their most famous ex-resident. A local and unnamed employee at the busy Wilderness Filling Station quipped that maybe ex-State President Thabo Mbeki should come and retire to the Wilderness and bid for a home “that offers presidential life style living”. |
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