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·      The Valuations Appeals Board of Ehlanzeni has dismissed Leopard’s Creek’s expert evaluation of Leopard’s Creek at R330 million ·      Leopard’s Creek value is R1.3 billion as of 2017 ·      Leopard’s Creek Share Block (Pty) Ltd has fighting hard to pay less rates and taxes to the Nkomazi Local Municipality

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A newly constituted quasi-judicial body has put the value of mogul Johan Rupert’s luxury golf estate back at R1.3 billion in a 15-year dispute over property rates.

Management of Rupert’s Leopard’s Creek Share Block (Pty) Ltd, which is situated outside Malalane on the border of the Kruger National Park, have been fighting tooth and nail to pay less in rates and taxes to the cash-strapped Nkomazi Local Municipality.

The Valuations Appeals Board of Ehlanzeni has dismissed Leopard’s Creek’s expert evaluation of the property at R330 million. Leopard Creek hosts the internationally acclaimed Alfred Dunhill Championship. The property comprises 335 745 hectares of undivided land, 251 residential sites divided between 80 residential riverfront sites bordering the Crocodile River, and 171 bush or golf course sites.

The company went on a warpath in 2011 when the municipality evaluated Leopard’s Creek at R1.4 billion. This evaluation forced Nkomazi municipality to reconsider and cancel a 1996 agreement that required Leopard Creek to pay a measly R35 000 year. 

Leopard’s Creek enjoyed this agreement even after Parliament passed the Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA) in 2004 that gave municipalities power to charge property rates and taxes.

In 2017, the municipality demanded R76.4 million in property rates as per its evaluation, but Leopard Creek objected and appointed its own experts in 2018 to evaluate the property.  

This new Valuations Appeal Board was established following a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling last year, which upheld a Mpumalanga High Court judgement that dismissed the R1.4 billion evaluation of the property.

The five-member board of three independent professional evaluators and two chairpersons, has found that Leopard’s Creek’s expert, Norman Griffiths, was wrong when he evaluated the property at R330 million.

“The board concluded that the reduced value of R330 000 000 provided by Mr. Norman Griffiths represents investment or development values rather than market value. As such, these figures do not meet the statutory definition of market value required under the MPRA and are therefore not applicable for rating purposes,” the board said in its finding dated February 13 2026.

“The Valuation Appeal Board determined that, based on expert reports and evidence, the market value of the subject property as of 1 July 2017 falls within a range of R1.3 billion to R1.5 billion. This range reflects valuations presented by all expert witnesses and is consistent with recognised valuation standards under MPRA.”

The board said that it preferred the original General Valuation amount because it fell within the range established by all expert reports for market or sell-out value. 

“It was determined during the same evaluation process that prepared the original General Valuation (GV) and all properties within the jurisdiction, ensuring consistency and compliance with statutory requirements.”

Nkomazi Local Municipality, Cyril Ripinga, said that the municipality expected Leopard’s Creek management to mount another court challenge. “We’re expecting they will go to court as they have been fighting,” Ripinga said.

The municipality intervened on behalf Leopard’s Creek and requested land claimants to exclude the property when they lodged restitution claims because it recognised its economic importance for the region.