Going, going, gone! Hamilton Ndlovu's luxury fleet auctioned for over R8m

"Hallelujah!!! It's just money ... go on guys." 

These were some of the encouraging words the auctioneer, Clive Lazarus, used to motivate bidders to outbid one another during the sale of tenderprenuer Hamilton Ndlovu's yellow Lamborghini Urus at an auction on Wednesday afternoon.

The bidding for the luxury high-performance sports car, which began at R3m, lasted for at least four minutes. The car, which was the star attraction of the auction, fetched an impressive R4,345m, just over R1m more than what Park Village Auctions in Johannesburg had expected earlier this week. 

The auction was the state's third attempt at recouping R157m that Ndlovu scored in 19 unlawful personal protective equipment (PPE) tenders in 2020. He also owes the taxman millions of rand. His Bryanston, Johannesburg, mansion was auctioned last year to the value of R7.1m while bank accounts which belong to some of the companies linked to him were frozen with R42m balance in them.

This is the big moment. This is one of Hamilton's vehicles. It's not important how we start, it's how we finish that's important.

—  Auctioneer, Clive Lazarus

Four of his vehicles, a 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera, a Lamborghini Urus 4.0 V8 (2019), a Porsche Panamera GTS (2019) and a Porsche Cayenne S (2020) were sold at Wednesday's auction for a total value of about R8,5m. The Carrera was sold for R1,8m while the Panamera was sold within 2 minutes for R1,36m. The Cayenne went under the hammer for R1,23m.

At least 400 bidders had shown interest in the four cars and their pictures were posted on the auctioneer's website earlier this week, claimed the company. 

The sale for the Lamborghini was the one that drew much attention from bidders and caused so much excitement to the auctioneer.

"This is the big moment. This is one of Hamilton's vehicles. It's not important how we start, it's how we finish that's important," said Lazarus.

He then explained that a winning bidder for a car over R1m should pay R50,000 deposit within 5 minutes of buying the vehicle.

At least 11 bids were done on the car, but it took four minutes before the bidding could be settled as the auctioneer screamed and threw his hand in the air in excitement every time the price went higher. 

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