The mansion that African Bank's riches built

As African Bank's spectacular collapse continues to send shock waves through South Africa's banking sector, an ultramodern mansion on the spectacular False Bay coastline stands as a monument to the enormous wealth accrued by its directors.

The mansion, known as "African Bank House", has recently sprung up in the small coastal town of Rooi Els, about an hour's drive from Cape Town.

The property is owned by Upbeatprops 167, a company that, until recently, listed as one of its two directors Leon Kirkinis, who resigned as CEO of African Bank this month after steering the unsecured-lending giant into the dust.

Kirkinis was appointed a director in 1999. Although records kept by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission seem to indicate he resigned in October last year, African Bank's most recent annual report - which Kirkinis signed off in December 2013 - still lists him as an executive director of Upbeatprops 167 at that time.

Another document issued on May 30 by African Bank to raise money, also attested to by Kirkinis, listed Upbeatprops 167 as being among his "current directorships".

Kirkinis failed to return calls asking him to clarify his involvement in Upbeatprops 167 this week.

The house, which has set locals agog with its hi-tech features and imported fittings, appears to fit in with the extravagant lifestyles of some African Bank executives.

Kirkinis took home almost R40-million over the past decade. In 2007, his best salary package year, he netted R5.6-million. The next year his salary dropped to R4.6-million, partly as a result of the global financial crisis.

An estate agent active in the area said: "Everyone in Rooi Els knows it as African Bank House." Another resident said: "We call it all sorts of things. I call it the pagoda."

Kirkinis's company bought the property for R3.7-million in 1998. The municipal valuation now puts the value at an estimated R4.5-million.

But the estate agent said: "It's not like a R10-million house. It's a lot more than that."

One of the neighbours said the house cost about R50-million to build but would now fetch about R100-million, whereas other houses in the area were in the region of R3-million.

The property has "beautiful open views that see all the way to Table Mountain," said the estate agent. "If you look at the other houses in Rooi Els and you look at that thing, it looks like it shouldn't be there. It looks like it should be lifted out of there and placed in Camps Bay."

Sunday Times reporters visited the house this week. It appeared to be unoccupied, although village residents said Kirkinis had been using it as a hideaway since African Bank's collapse.

The house was built by engineers brought in from the Netherlands and Germany, said a local shopkeeper.

"You can control the gates, lights, fridges - turn them on and off with your cellphone," said a Rooi Els resident speaking on condition of anonymity.

Its fittings, including a R28000 shower head, were imported from Switzerland and Germany. "All the features and fittings are tops. They are the best money can buy - basins, sinks, everything," said a man with intimate knowledge of the house.

The dining room is also hi-tech. "You just clap or kick under the table and drawers pop up with knives et cetera," said a man who claimed to have been inside the house a number of times.

Storage rooms are also computerised and the 30m-long balcony can be lowered and raised.

When raised to the first-floor level, the balcony affords views of the ocean, with the surf breaking on rocks a mere 20 paces from the edge of the garden.

One village resident said: "Everything in that house is electronic. He can lift the balcony up or down; he's got something like 160m of sliding electronic doors. He can open rooms as he wants, change the shape of his rooms as he wants."

The house has a backup generator that could provide enough power for the whole of Rooi Els, locals say.