Tang's Nicky van der Walt clears R3.3m debt, finally closing chapter on Ritz Hotel saga

The Ritz Hotel saga is finally behind Nicky van der Walt, the restaurateur behind the popular Tang restaurants, and his wife Lee-Ann (nee Liebenberg) when he made good this week on his promise to pay back the R3.3 million debt he owes.

The monies were paid prior to Monday, September 29, and subsequently a court case that sought to have his estate sequestrated and him and his wife declared insolvent, was withdrawn by Walter Hennig, the owner of Mel Properties 100 to whom Van der Walt owed the debt.

In an earlier statement, his legal team said Van der Walt now just wanted to "focus fully on his business and professional responsibilities without further distraction".

Mel Properties had at the time of the infamous 2016 Ritz revamp sourced funding for the hotel and Van der Walt had entered into co-suretyship with Hennig, the majority shareholder.

However, details surrounding the co-suretyship agreement, including how liabilities were divided and why the R3.3 million remained unpaid for so long, have not been publicly disclosed.

Earlier this year a High Court judge placed Van der Walt's estate under provisional sequestration and he was ordered to pay back the outstanding debt of R3.3m which arose from the co-suretyship.

At the time of the ruling Van der Walt had said he was "disappointed".

His legal team said at time: "At the time of concluding the Ritz lease, Van der Walt was unaware of Hennig’s ongoing financial and legal difficulties... Throughout, Van der Walt has remained committed to honouring his obligations diligently and responsibly."

This week court documents show that the case against the Van der Walts to have them declared insolvent was withdrawn, following the settling of the matter.

The Ritz saga for Van der Walt and Liebenberg began with much fanfare in 2016 when there was promise of a revamped hotel including the re-opening of the revolving restaurant.

A soft launch with the city's who's who went ahead but the hotel and restaurant never made it past the starting stalls. In fact old invites and menus are today sprawled on the floor of the top floor of the battered building which was condemned and declared unsafe for humans. 

Instead of the promised relaunch there was a drawn out court case between the owner at the time, the late Barney Hurwitz, and Van der Walt and his partner.

The landlord cancelled the 20-year lease agreement with Van der Walt after nearly two years of no rent being paid, despite the R1.3  million a month rental obligation. The matter went to court with Van der Walt countersuing for R20m in damages, but ultimately the judge in that matter ordered Van der Walt to vacate the building,

The latest round in court - seven years later - where the legal dispute was brought by Mel Properties 100, arose from a  a co-suretyship agreement signed by Van der Walt and Hennig to secure funding for the Ritz construction project.

Van der Walt went on from the Ritz to make a success out of Tang, a restaurant with branches at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, and Dubai.

It is fitting that the entire saga has come to a conclusion less than a few months after the hotel was sold to new owners, changing hands for over R350m to OKU Cape Town - which is part of the international OKU Hotels group.

Since the failed relaunch the building has been in a valley of decline including when building hijackers took it over around the time of Covid. The owners at the time struggled for years to get them out. 

While OKU Cape Town is still mum about its plans, a look at its other hotels around the world promise that something good will be coming to the Titanic of Sea Point to bring it back to life again for yet another voyage.