The Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) has welcomed Judge MJ Dolamo’s decision to strike off the court roll, the Observatory Civic Association’s (OCA’s) urgent interdict application to stop the R4.6 billion River Club redevelopment.
The LLPT, the trustee representative of the developer of e-commerce giant Amazon’s planned African headquarters in Observatory, Cape Town, says this week’s judgement is a win for the hundreds of workers currently on site.
The OCA had taken the developer to court on contempt of court, for resuming construction at the site, despite an urgent interdict granted in March halting the construction process.
In his judgement, Dolamo found that he was not persuaded that the application for an interdict to stop LLPT from undertaking or progressing work in the River Club was urgent.
The legal battle sought to permanently halt the construction of the Observatory-based River Club, which seeks to turn the treasured piece of land into a commercial and residential development.
The members of the Liesbeek Action Campaign, which consists of the OCA and indigenous groups, are concerned the construction on the floodplain between the Black and Liesbeek rivers would lead to the land losing its historical significance and result in increased risk of flooding and environmental exploitation.
The members of the Liesbeek Action Campaign say this week’s court outcome is a reflection that the judgement does not recognise the full extent of destruction caused by the construction.
While this may be a small set-back for its struggle, the members say they remain fully determined to ensure a just outcome in the legal matter.
“The interim interdict of March 2022 has not been overturned and remains in force. The contempt of court by the developers, LLPT, is still to be heard. If the court finds that they initiated construction in illegal violation of the interim interdict issued by Judge [Patricia] Goliath on the 18 March, then they are still liable to be found in contempt of court,” says the Liesbeek Action Campaign, in a statement.
According to the Liesbeek Action Campaign, the construction causes destruction of tangible and intangible heritage assets of the Khoi and San by infilling the site under development with concrete – a form of ongoing ethnocide (erasing the culture of a people’s culture) and epistemicide (the erasure of Indigenous knowledge systems by colonial forces) that can be traced back to 1657.
In an affidavit filed on 18 July, LLPT noted Amazon had warned further postponement of the construction project could result in termination of the development and lease agreements signed with LLP.
In the second week of October, the full bench of the Western Cape High Court is set to hear the appeal application for dismissal of the original Goliath J Orders.
“Pending the outcome of this hearing, the construction work on the site continues lawfully,” says LLPT.
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