Liesbeek Action Campaign to get new lawyers as development battle rages on

Construction work at River Club to transform the River Club into a site where Amazon wants to situate its headquarters in Cape Town. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Construction work at River Club to transform the River Club into a site where Amazon wants to situate its headquarters in Cape Town. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published Oct 3, 2022

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Cape Town - Liesbeek Action Campaign, the civil society group fighting R4.5 billion development at the River Club site in Observatory, has parted ways with its lawyers, Cullinan and Associates.

On Friday, the group said: “Due to a combination of factors, including their own internal capacity, our lack of finances and in the interest of winning a case against the developer, all parties have decided that it is best to part ways and continue with a new law firm better able to handle the various court cases.

“Right now we face 10 different legal cases, all brought to court by the developer.”

The campaign has managed to raise under R1 million in crowdfunding which they say has been used for legal fees, as their battle to stop the developers of the River Club into turning the site into Amazon’s African headquarters wages on.

The group secured a high court order by Judge Patricia Goliath in March, interdicting the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) from continued construction work.

However, they returned to court months later to file contempt of court papers after the discovery of ongoing construction.

This has resulted in subsequent litigation by indigenous groups who, outside court, are supporting the development.

After their contempt of court application, the Goringhaicona tribe filed papers to have Cullinan removed as their legal representation and to have Tim Dunn come on record as their attorney.

The group further sought to withdraw their support from the litigation and instead sided with the First Nations Collective in their support of the River Club development.

Meanwhile, another indigenous tribe, the Gorachoqua, has withdrawn their support for the project.

Gorachoqua council spokesperson Neville Felix said: “We can no longer be part of a process that started incorrectly and continues to be a bone of contention for our people.

“We have withdrawn the Gorachoqua and tribal mandates out of the River Club.”

LAC described the court action as an ambush: “We are dealing with two appeals and have tried twice, through contempt proceedings, to secure a halt to the LLPT’s accelerated construction on the River Club site.

“This, we maintain, is flagrant disregard of the March 18th interdict, delivered by Judge Goliath. Each of the legal teams we are up against has a silk (senior counsel), a junior counsel and a set of attorneys to back them up, costing the LLPT in excess of R100 000.00 a day.”

Most recently, LLPT secured a partial victory after the high court ruled that an interdict application by LACbacked Observatory Civic Association (OCA) be struck from the roll for lack of urgency.

LLPT said the construction work will continue “lawfully” with their appeal against Goliath’s order being heard on October 11 and 12 along with the Goringhaicona’s application to withdraw from litigation.

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Cape Argus