WHILE the deadline for the sole mandate to a well-known estate agency to sell the widely-acclaimed Hans Merensky Golf Club - placed on the market last year - in Phalaborwa, Northern Province looms with still no sale, tourists are avidly supporting the estate, with an average occupancy rate of 80% reported for its overnight rondavels (cottages).
"The mandate is up on September 4 and we (the Phalaborwa Mining Company) as current owners, are considering taking on responsibility for dealing with the property ourselves," says Ian Williams, managing director of Hans Merensky and financial manager for PMC.
He told Travel Now that due to the continued interest in the golf estate - the only golf course in the world which features a private game reserve and where animals such as hippo, crocodile, lion, elephant and warthog are found on the golfing greens - PMC has "by no means" neglected the course.
"We've appointed a new greenkeeper, Mike Bernard, who has years of experience and we are spending a lot in order to maintain the pristine golf course."
Williams said PMC had some "exciting ideas" concerning the future of the golf estate, including working in conjunction with a consortium to turn Hans Merensky into a gambling resort, but emphasised that these were merely ideas and nothing had been decided upon as yet.
(Adéle Mackenzie)
