Denton is looking to Steve Biko, the late Eastern Cape struggle hero and black consciousness leader, to save him from municipal officials who want to force him to repair his buildings.

He tells the FM that he is planning to turn part of his 19th-century post office building - described by an official as derelict - into a Biko museum for the 30th anniversary of Biko's death at the hands of apartheid security police. And he will create a shrine in the Sanlam office building where Biko was tortured.

Excited locals thought Denton was a typical foreign investor who would pour millions into turning the city around. Many of his properties have historical significance, such as the post office and some of Port Elizabeth's first houses, in Donkin Street.

But officials have been trying for years, without much success, to get him to fix up the post office building. Heritage activists and Mandela Bay metro officials have accused Denton of being a slumlord for allowing his properties to decay.

But he feels that the media, the FM included, and the city management are being unfair to him. "I'm not a slumlord and your story (FM Fox December 8 2006 ) was not objective," he complains. He says he has tried upgrading his properties. "But I was too far ahead of my time."

To get his Biko project off the ground he has roped in Nyameka Madikizela, former Portnet property manager, a cousin of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and president of the SA Institute of Black Property Professionals. She is also his fiancée.

"People will be able to visit the museum, then stroll down the newly renovated Govan Mbeki Avenue to visit the Sanlam centre," says Denton. "They can also spend time at one of the restaurants I intend placing around the post office. We are working on this plan with the Biko family."

While he is wooing politicians, municipal officials are closing in on him. The FM has learnt that Mandela Bay city manager Graham Richards is about to act against him after spending months analysing the condition of his properties and researching the legal steps to take.

"I don't believe the politicians will be taken in by him," says a senior official who asked to remain anonymous.

"In any case, the post office is in such bad condition it's practically caving in," another adds. "It will take major capital outlay to fix and he has no hope of having it ready by September [the Biko anniversary]. He's just playing for time but it won't work."