THE couple live in a world where a pair of Italian leather heels is too cheap at R3000, and you ignore the sales rack or the marked down goods as you search for the perfect R500 cotton frock for a toddler to wear to the beach. When you serve dinner it has to be on R100000 the Villeroy and Boch dinner service with the gold thread. As the owner of one of the stores that Shawun and S’bu Mpisane frequent sniffed, “People who shop here don’t have a budget.”
Durban’s diamante couple have endured seven years of scrutiny from SARS but their woes exploded into the national consciousness last week. Some Durban newspaper, who have followed the couple for years, guesstimate their personal fortune at R600 million, built on a string of multimillion rand government tenders. As pictures of their exotic car collection being driven away on flatbed trucks splashed across the nations front pages, the country got a glimpse of the couples platinum trimmed lifestyle.
For a while the couple grabbed headlines for their lavish spending; now it’s their legal woes that have put them in the spotlight. Shawun has just been granted bail in the third fraud case she is fighting and S’bu has lost his beloved car collection.
THREE custom driveway gates that give you access to the Addison Road, La Lucia, home costs a little under R80000. The guards lounging in the sticky afternoon, shotguns and automatic rifles at the ready cost R40000 a month. This was the first line of security that greeted agents from SARS Asset Forfeiture Unit when they arrived last week to confiscate any property they could find to satisfy a R140 million seizure order.
Behind the gate body guards in suits and dark glasses milled protectively around S’bu as he negotiated with the officers. Unable to convince the officers to leave they were granted access to the property. Through the gates you drove directly onto the top floor of the house, a warehouse sized garage for the exotic car collection.
Ben Engelbrecht, a manager with the towing company that carted off the bulk of the cars, described S’bu as likable and diplomatic. The bodyguards however were incredibly suspicious, “It’s the way you imagine drug lords live, with the guards and the guys with guns wearing sunglasses. You were allowed where you were allowed; if you stepped out of that area they became very aggressive.”
Fourteen exotic cars were loaded onto trucks and taken to a secure warehouse, but officers believe there are others still to be accounted for. A rare pearl white Lamborghini Murcielago had to be left behind; S’bu had sold it a week ago. “There was two of everything. The Rolls had just 2800 km’s on the clock. It had not been driven in so long we had to replace the battery. What a waste,” Ben said cheerlessly.
Some of the couple’s neighbour’s sneer it’s the folly of new money, but those who have been invited into the couple’s three storey home have gladly accepted. They describe a home with floor to ceiling glass walls with spectacular views down to the Indian Ocean. Flat screen TV’s are all over the home, coffee tables are adorned with kitsch, expensive statuettes, “But I could not see a single book anywhere.
The smallish plot realtor Graham Jordan has for sale now, 1600m₂ for R3.6 million, interested the glam couple for a while before the state froze the glam couples bank accounts. Apparently the couple wanted to extend their own double plot in the affluent neighbourhood to accommodate their extended family and guests.
Graham kids that it’s become easy to sell the expensive homes that surround the Mpisane mansion, even in this economy. It’s not even the shotgun wielding guards that make the area seem extra secure that is the attraction for tenderpreneurs looking to buy. “It’s the jet set life style of the Mpisane’s they want to rub up against. For some it’s the status of living next to bling royalty they are looking for.”
Tales of wild parties are just that says Graham. He can remember just one party, and that was so over the top that people are still talking about it now, more than a year later. It began at the five star Fairmont Hotel at Zimbali where the flowers alone cost R300000 as the couple renewed their vows.
The after party – more precisely S’bu’s 40th – was moved to the couple’s palatial home immediately after. Shawun shed her couture wedding gown for another designer dress in gold; all the women were dressed in shades of gold at the themed party.
As the night became morning Shawun handed the keys to a white Maserati Gran Turismo to S’bu. It was her gift to him for twenty years of happiness, nine as husband and wife, and of course to deal with any mid life crisis, a new toy that can reach a top speed of 320 km/h. Shawun seemed blasé about the gift when she spoke to DRUM at the party, “It’s hard to buy S’bu a gift as he has everything.”
To protect everything the couple has costs them close to a million rand a month a security consultant who does business in the affluent neighbourhood guesses. It’s an informed guess, but as he jots down figures on a napkin he nods in agreement with his numbers.
“That’s excluding the automated security system that they would have installed. A multimillion rand system that would have cameras, beams around the house and a fire suppression system.”
AS SHAWUN left the Durban Commercial Crimes Court on Friday after posting R100000 bail supporters ululated and danced. It may have seemed like a victory to Durban’s Queen of Bling but fashionista’s snickered as they have been for years. Shawun has earned a reputation for wearing expensive designer dresses, very high heels and big jewellery without an idea of how to tie the outfit together.
The couple have blamed their troubles on race, claiming that if they had been a successful white couple the tax man would have quietly knocked on their door to resolve any misunderstanding.
The daughter of an ANC stalwart – the late Dumazile Mkhize – and the man who negotiated Bheki Cele’s lobola – S’bu is also a childhood friend of some of President Zuma’s kids – have more than enough allies to help fight their battles.
sulaimanphilip 