Mugabe's finance chief has more Cape properties

MINISTER'S MANSION: The house being built in the posh Cape Town suburb of Llandudno for Zimbabwe Finance Minister Christopher Kuruneri, Picture: TERRY SHEAN

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By Bonny Schoonakker
29/03/04
ZIMBABWE Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri, whose Llandudno mansion made headline news last week, has property investments worth millions of rands more than the home he is building in the exclusive Cape enclave.

This week a family renting his second Llandudno property spoke of their horror at discovering that their home was part of a property portfolio owned by one of President Robert Mugabe's key ministers.

One member of the family, who asked not be identified, said this week that "we cannot wait to move into our new home", being built in Hout Bay.

She, her husband and children live at 17 Apostle Road, a large mansion on the upper levels of Llandudno with a spectacular view over the Atlantic and high above 38 Sunset Avenue, the new home being funded by Kuruneri.

She said: "We felt absolutely dreadful" to discover that their home was funded by a minister from a country in rapid economic decline.

Their monthly rentals on the property, she believed, should rather go to the thousands of Zimbabwe pensioners made destitute after their benefits dried up months ago.

For now, rent for 17 Apostle Road is paid to Hout Bay businessman Chris Hayman, whose company, Venture Projects & Associates is overseeing the construction of Kuruneri's house on 38 Sunset Avenue.

Although he has rented out the house, Kuruneri continues to list 17 Apostle Road as his official residence in South Africa. His ownership of the property means that his Cape investment portfolio is worth far more than the R30-million value ascribed to his new home.

Kuruneri bought 17 Apostle Road in 2001 from an Italian businessman, Gianfranco Lovisolo.

The purchase price is listed as 563-million lire, which at the time was some R2.069-million.

The sale of the property was arranged through Cape Town lawyer Lorenzo Bruttomesso, a member of the Cape Town firm C B Niland & Partners. Bruttomesso (according to a former Venture Projects employee) has been given power of attorney by Kuruneri to conduct a wide range of business deals in Cape Town.

Kuruneri also has a substantial (though undisclosed) stake in an upmarket seaside apartment block in Sea Point, which estate agents say is "easily" worth R20-million.

Amassing this investment, whether on his own behalf or that of others, has kept Kuruneri busy over the past two years. An official record of his travels into and out of South Africa shows that he has visited Cape Town 14 times since April 19 2002.

This week, in response to the outrage about his Llandudno mansion, Kuruneri claimed that the house was being paid for with money which he had earned abroad - Sunday Times
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