Cape Town’s sparkling Ritz Hotel has lost its shine once again.

Celebrity businessman Nicky van der Walt and his model wife Lee-Ann Liebenberg announced the Sea Point landmark’s multimillion-rand rebirth in October 2016. But 19 months later‚ the management company Van der Walt quit in March has been ordered to vacate the 20-storey landmark‚ topped by a revolving restaurant‚ by June 22.

The landlord has lawfully cancelled its lease with the tenant and is entitled to have its property back.
Cape Town high court judge Patrick Gamble said the company had displayed “chutzpah of the first order” by occupying the Sea Point Hotel since March 2017 without paying a cent to Ritz Plaza‚ which owns the property.

Dr Barney Hurwitz‚ who founded the Netcare private hospital group‚ controlled Ritz Plaza and negotiated the lease with Van der Walt but died in the midst of the litigation in October 2017‚ aged 95.

Gamble said if Van der Walt’s former company‚ Ritz Hotel Management‚ did not vacate the property by June 22‚ the sheriff would be sent in to evict it a week later.