LUXURY cars lined the pavement outside the gates of controversial former Bay businessman Ben Nyaumwe’s Brookes Hill home when the plush property went under the hammer yesterday morning.

The three-storey, four-bedroom house, with views of Algoa Bay and the Port Elizabeth harbour, was sold for R2.15-million after 20 minutes of competitive bidding next to the heated pool, in the shade of the main bedroom’s large balcony.

The new owner, a wealthy foreign restaurateur in Port Elizabeth, wished to remain anonymous and did not want to comment on his latest purchase other than saying he was pleased with the outcome of the auction.

Besides a security guard on site, the house had not been lived in since the beginning of the year, after the Port Elizabeth High Court ordered the final sequestration of Nyaumwe’s assets.

A former Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber board member, Nyaumwe was sequestrated after his family trust stood surety for a R101-million loan for the development of the five-star Radisson Blu Hotel on the Port Elizabeth beachfront. – Riaan Marais