But Dale Stephens claims he can’t sell his Somerset West property, which he has listed for sale at R15-million, because city authorities say he may do so only once the boundary has been reduced by four layers of bricks.

Stephens, who had two top-20 hits in the early ’80s and is now a property developer, is fuming after facing criminal charges and two years of “harassment” by neighbours.

But those on the other side of the wall said the huge structure had reduced their views, property values and afternoon sunshine.

Last year, Stephens appeared in the Somerset West Magistrates’ Court ” like I was some kind of criminal”, for allegedly making the wall too high and failing to plaster it on one side, in contravention of local bylaws.

This followed an official complaint by neighbour Manfred Steinhaus, 81.

Stephens was acquitted when the magistrate concluded that the businessman had not “deviated to a material degree from (the) plan approved by the local authority”.

But, last week, the City of Cape Town, about 50km from Somerset West, stepped in and ordered Stephens to lower the wall or face the high court.

Cape Town said “(we) have reached the respectful conclusion that (Stephens) was incorrectly acquitted”.

The businessman’s attorney has accused the city of “malicious” prosecution – a claim denied by the council.

“I came down from Joburg to live a peaceful, beautiful, quiet life with views, and build this dream home, which I’ve worked for all my life,” the former singer said. “Instead, I’ve had nothing but bad blood with neighbours, and blackmail from the municipality.”

He recently acted in SABC’s For Sale sitcom, writes “international soundtracks” and is involved in property development. He lives with his fiancée and three children.

“This DA council is seriously getting ready to spend a fortune in legal wrangles about my wall, which a court agrees is fully approved – when they should be spending it on toilets in Khayelitsha.”

A neighbouring townhouse complex, built at a lower level than Stephens’s property, is dwarfed by his eastern wall. The structure has enraged the occupants, who are mostly retirees and German pensioners who spend the European winter in South Africa.

Widow Christine Ferreira, 76, whose back yard is below the wall, claimed Stephens “said he wanted privacy, I suppose for him to swim in the nude or whatever. But even with a 2m wall, who’s going to get onto a ladder to look at that? ”

The two sides reached a stalemate last year when Stephens’s neighbours demanded that he plaster the outside of his wall, but refused to allow him access to their property for the work until he had reduced the height of the fence.

Steinhaus said: “My home’s value has gone down something like R250000 because I have no view.”

Stephens admitted that his walls were unusually high, but said he had built his home in Somerset West because there were no height restrictions for boundary walls. “I’d nearly been killed in Joburg – which became a gangsters’ paradise – and I had an incredible fear of hold-ups,” he said.

Asked why the city had stepped in, Cape Town’s Jaco van der Westhuizen said: “The city is not bound by the finding of a magistrate in criminal proceedings, but must itself determine whether there has been compliance with the law.”