CAPE TOWN - In a victory for the rights of indigenous Khoi and San people, Western Cape Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath has interdicted the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) from further construction earmarked for among others offices for retail giant, Amazon, at the River Club site.
The interdict will remain in place pending a review of the relevant environmental and land use authorisations by the City and the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
Judge Goliath found that the fundamental rights to culture and heritage of Khoi and San peoples were under threat if the development was allowed to proceed.
“This matter ultimately concerns the rights of indigenous peoples. The fact that the development has substantial economic, infrastructural and public benefits can never override the fundamental rights of First Nations Peoples. First Nations Peoples have a deep, sacred linkage to the development site through lineage, oral history, past history and narratives, indigenous knowledge systems, living heritage and collective memory.
“The Two Rivers Urban Park (TRUP) site is therefore central to the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the First Nations Peoples. The construction of the River Club development should stop immediately, pending compliance with this fundamental requirement,” Goliath found.
The Observatory Civic Association and the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council had approached the court to stop the R4.6 billion rand development from proceeding, citing irreparable harm and no proper consultation, among others.
To celebrate their legal win, the Goringhaicona Khoikhoi Traditional Indigenous Council held a cleansing ceremony at the site yesterday to pray for the river, remember their ancestors and give thanks for the court’s decision.
High Commissioner of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council, Tauriq Jenkins said: “We are deeply grateful and overjoyed about how important this judgement is, it shows that heritage is not for sale. Things that are still sacred in our life stand an opportunity of being ultimately protected. It was a moment of restorative justice, the bulldozers have stopped. We hope that this will bring us to the peace and unity we all look for because the recognition of indigenous consciousness has been removed from the centre since 1657.”
The LLPT said they were disappointed by the judgement.
“The LLPT is deeply disappointed by the outcome of the interdict application to stop the River Club redevelopment in Observatory. The LLPT’s legal team is studying the judgement circulated by the Deputy Judge President’s registrar and is considering the legal avenues available to it in the circumstances,” the LLPT said.
The LLPT referred the Cape TImes to a statement by the Western Cape First Nations Collective (WCFNC) who were also respondents in the matter and were protesting at the site yesterday.
“Our view of this judgement is that it has to be contested and therefore we will proceed with an urgent High Court application to appeal the judgement and to return all of this province and South Africa to sanity, namely that the Khoi and San people have every right to return to the areas from which their ancestors have been dispossessed,” the statement read.
At the protest, Zenzile Khoisan said: “We have come here to make a stand against the Observatory elite. They want to walk their dogs along the Liesbeek.”
The City who were also respondents in the matter, said it could not comment yet.
“The City will study the judgement when we receive it,” the City said.
Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning spokesperson, Rudolf van Jaarsveldt said they were also studying the judgement.
The River Club site, Erf 151832, Observatory was established in 1993 and is located near the confluence of the Black and Liesbeek Rivers.
The River Club is part of a broader area known as Two Rivers Urban Park (“TRUP”), which is approximately 300 hectares in extent and incorporates large stretches of open space on either side of the M5 highway.
The development site is also located within a historic section of the TRUP in the vicinity of a high concentration of heritage resources of varying grades including the South African Astronomical Observatory, Valkenberg Hospital, Oude Molen eco-village, Maitland gardens, the Alexandra Institute and historic Mill.
The River Club development site also forms part of a broader area that was the dominion of the Gorinhaiqua (a section of the Peninsula Khoekhoe) in pre-colonial times.
Heritage Western Cape did not respond to questions by deadline.