Judge blocks Durban July protest

The Greyville racecourse is home to South Africa's premier horse racing event, the Vodacom Durban July.

The Greyville racecourse is home to South Africa's premier horse racing event, the Vodacom Durban July.

Published Jul 3, 2015

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Durban – A bid by a Durban environmental group to stage a picket by 500 people at the country’s premier racing event was on Friday thwarted by a Durban High Court judge.

Judge Nompumulelo Radebe refused to order the eThekwini Metro Municipality to lift its ban preventing the South Durban Environmental Alliance (SDEA) from protesting outside the Greyville race course on Saturday when the Vodacom Durban July horse race takes place.

The environmental group had hoped to protest against Gold Circle (Pty) Ltd for selling the Clairwood racecourse to a transport logistics company.

After hearing argument from both the group’s advocate and that of the municipality, Radebe said she did not believe the application was an urgent one and that any urgency had been created by the environmental group.

She dismissed the group’s application to overturn the ban with costs.

The SDEA is opposed to the building of a logistics hub on the old Clairwood racecourse, claiming that it is he last large green area in the south of the city. Its destruction and the establishment of the hub according to the group would increase pollution and traffic to the detriment of local residents.

Gold Circle, the previous owners of the land, sold the land to Capital Property Fund in 2012.

Gold Circle chief executive Michel Nairac was quoted by the Mercury newspaper as saying that it sold the land as an open green space and had nothing to do with the rezoning of the land.

The racecourse is located near the former Durban International Airport where city’s new proposed dug-out port is set to be built.

Advocate Lunga Soho argued that it was a constitutional right for the SDEA to be allowed to hold a protest while Advocate Carol Sibiya said that there was no reason for the group to give the city such late notice of its intentions to protest, when it knew that every first Saturday of July was the day that the race is held.

She argued that the city had the right to demand sufficient notice, especially at an event that is expected to be attended by 55 000 people.

Judge Radebe said reasons for refusing the application sought by the SDEA would be given upon request.

ANA

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