JEFFREYS BAY – The owner of the once picturesque farm on the banks of the Kabeljous River in the Kouga died without seeing justice served in a protracted fraud case involving one of her former co-directors.
Adelheid Peltenburg, a renowned artist and holder of a doctorate in Medical Sports Physiology, did not live to see how Gregory Gavin Ferguson (55) was sent to 8 years in prison nine years after his initial arrest which was reported by The HeraldLive.
Ferguson was the third co-director with Peltenburg and a family member Liziwe Cynthia Peltenberg of a closed corporation known as Cob Creek Estate (Pty) Ltd.
The development on Peltenburg’s farm was to include a golf estate, residential units, a mashie golf course, a vineyard, a tasting facility, a restaurant and a shooting range.
Prior to this project, Peltenburg ran a successful art studio and restaurant on her premises. She created an artists paradise project worth R4.5 million on her farm in 2003.
Cob Creek Estate Company was formed in 2005. The planting of vineyards ensued and the first grapes in the Eastern Cape were harvested in 2010.
The project soon gained a lot of publicity and keen investors bought shares in the estate between December 2005 and January 2011. These shares amounted to the value of more than R4 million.
Ferguson was the sole signatory and had access to the online bank account of the planned luxury estate.
The once popular De Vine Bistro was opened in April 2012. This was a new name for Adelheid’s former Cob Creek Restaurant.
Farmers markets, art exhibitions, wine and food pairings, music concerts, weddings and corporate functions were held at the Bistro.
With the slump of the property market and the sudden decline of business at Cob Creek farm, auditors picked up irregularities in the financial records.
Ferguson was initially arrested by the Hawks on 20 December 2016 but released on bail on the same day. He was initially charged with 8 counts of fraud totalling nearly R8 million.
The Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court found Ferguson guilty on several charges of fraud during October 2023.
This case dragged on for several years but earlier in November it came to a pivotal point when Ferguson was sent to an eight-year direct prison sentence.
- Adelheid Peltenburg was a popular member of the Jeffreys Bay community.
She was especially known as a keen business woman and the CEO of Fine and Country, a local estate agency.
She was also an accomplished bridge player and served as treasurer of the Jeffreys Bay Bridge Club Committee for several years.
Peltenburg, born in The Hague, attended the Edith Stein College. She gained her doctorate of Medicine at the Rijksuniversiteit/University of Utrecht.
She also served on the Dutch Diabetes Foundation for 12 years up to July 2001.
She was also a renowned and highly skilled Scientific Analyst.
Her works of art and especially her sculptures and oil paintings reflected a deep emotional theme.
She was the sole owner of Pelty’s Art Gallery which opened in Da Gama Road, Jeffreys Bay in 2012. Adelheid was a keen traveller and was especially fond of the Greek Island of Aegina.
Cob Creek sprawled over 228 ha of 23 sub-divided plots, vineyards sized 32 ha and 15 ha of cultivable soil and marshes.
There were ample sources of water at Cob Creek, as it was directly connected to the Kabeljauwsriver via an underground water channel system. There were also quite a number of boreholes on the farm.
Sadly nothing else of Adelheid’s dream came to fruition. She died suddenly earlier this year on 25 February. According to a friend, Dette van den Boogaard, her memorial service was held on 4 March in Jeffreys Bay.
Adelheid Peltenburg will fondly be remembered for her extensive contributions to several deserving projects in the Kouga Area.
