WeeklySA_AdminEXTRAORDINAIRE : Kerzner turned a hated Bantustan enclave into a world class entertainment centre
By Jacob Mawela
The name Sol Kerzner is legendary in many ways – an unforgettable business magnate, and the founder of both the South Africa’s largest hotel groups, the Southern Sun Hotel Group and Sun International.
Kerzner would later befriend the country’s foremost political icon, Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected president of the new and democratic Republic of South Africa.
To find out more about the interaction between Mandela and Kerzner, the book, SOL: My friend and Adversary, a memoir penned by Peter Venison, is a source, which in delicate way, describes what motivated him to build such a revered entertainment empire – located in a Bantustan that was greatly reviled for collaborating with the evil apartheid system.
Also, in his inimitable style of poise and grace, Kerzner brought to these shores, the equally legendary Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest world heavyweight boxing champions of all times, who styled himself, and rightly so, as The Greatest – and truly so, because Ali’s charm, besides his vast boxing skills, became larger-than-life, and would never be imitated nor repeated.
It would be Kerzner collaborating with the Golden Gloves to promote and stage the Gerrie Coetzee and Big John Tate boxing match for the vacant WBA heavyweight title at the Loftus Versveld Rugby Stadium, Pretoria, Tshwane, in 1979 – a title boxing tournament the US anti-apartheid campaigner the Reverend Jesse Jackson attempted to scupper.
As if that were not enough, Kerzner would sweet-talk chief minister Lucas Mangope into giving some credibility to the much-hated Bantustan, turning it into Africa’s Las Vegas in the form of Sun City.
Sun City would be the venue to host a mouth-watering tennis tournament pitting Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, a tennis showdown with huge international appeal.
The Million Dollar Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club for the golf enthusiasts became a common feature, bringing top-class performers from all parts of the world to compete in one of the best fairways in the world – and to also enjoy the hospitality provided by the country’s number one entertainment centre.
Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Naomi Campbell, Tiger Woods, would become icons who would grace the place at different times.
Born in 1935, and an accounting graduate of the University of Witwatersrand, Kerzner was married twice to Heather Murphy, and Anneline Kriel, the former holder of Miss World beauty title in 1974. He died in 2022.
The Durban-born son, and only boy, among four siblings, ventured into the hotel industry by leasing a Durban hotel in 1962 – a small start that would in later years morphed to greatness of large proportion.
At that time of small beginnings, he was an accounting partner at the auditing firm, Wolpert and Abrahams, but would outgrow the small beginnings, grow business wings and take as giant step to developing the “must-visit” Beverly Hills hotel at uMhlanga Rocks, outside Durban, now eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal.
In his words, raising capital for the venture was “easy to source” to achieve his dream, and break into the big business world.
He initially pitched to numerous company directors who happened to be clients of the Wolpert and Abrahams accounting firm he worked for in Durban.
The banks, for which he had been associated through the auditing firm he worked for, provided funding for his own business projects.
The big moment would present itself when in a joint venture with the South African Breweries, the formation of Southern Sun came into existence in 1969 – a venture he would describe as the launching pad for future business enterprises, which would catapult his name to business heights.
Publisher, Melinda Ferguson said of the book: “I’ve been keeping this book a very well-guarded secret for a number of reasons.
This is a huge book for me because it’s the first ever published biography of this incredible entrepreneur, Sol Kerzner. I am very proud to have worked with author Peter Venison, who was Sol’s right-hand man through many successes and storms.”
• A trade paperback, SOL is published by Melinda Ferguson Publishers. Available at leading bookstores countrywide. It retails for R3350
