On an untouched lot in the Kwaaiwater area of Hermanus, excavators and tip-trucks are preparing for a build.

And, you guessed it, it’s not just any build.

The plot of land, situated between Hermanus’ town centre and Voëlklip, sits right on the edge of the water and belongs to none other than Markus Jooste, the former CEO of Steinhoff.

It wasn’t long ago that he was CEO, in fact, resigning only this week after “allegations of financial irregularities at the multinational company,” reports HuffPost.

Read all about that hot and easily avoidable mess here.

Oh, and the house that is set to be built is “considered to be the most expensive and exclusive property in the seaside town”:

The excavations are being done to enable underground garages to be built before the house will be constructed atop.

That’s a dangerous game to play, being so close to the water and all. But I guess it doesn’t really matter;  Jooste apparently owns other properties in Hermanus, including other holiday homes.

And it’s a hot area for corporates:

According to a local source the house is being built right in front of Gavin Relly’s old house. Relly was chairperson of Anglo American and was one of the first businessmen to negotiate with the ANC when it was still banned in the 1980s.

Thankfully, HuffPost got the pics and shared them, too:

I wonder how much longer that will go on.

Well, well, well –

UPDATE: This morning, Lourens Theron, director of contractor Theron Bros. , confirmed that along with all the other subcontractors employed, they received the stop order “without explanation” and were told to get off the site, reports HuffPost in a follow-up article:

“We would’ve focused totally on that project and now we haven’t got work for our employees in January, so now we don’t know what to do. We would’ve focused our company 100 percent there,” Theron said.

Currently a boundary wall is near complete, excavation is fully complete, and Theron Bros. started the main construction of the site one week before being issued with the stop order.

Oh dear, things really are going south for Mr Jooste.

[source:huffpost&huffpost]