The court ruling on a legal battle between the Liesbeek Action Campaign and the owners of the River Club Development, planned to house Amazon’s African headquarters, was postponed and is expected this week.
In April, the City of Cape Town approved the Cape Town-based River Club Development – a 15-hectare parcel of land that is expected to house Amazon’s African headquarters, along with other large commercial businesses.
However, the construction of the Observatory-based development, owned and operated by the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, faces revolt after an interdict was lodged with the Cape Town High Court, by the local coalition group and the descendants of SA’s earliest inhabitants, the Khoi and San.
They are seeking to halt the construction of the US retail giant’s site, on what they say is sacred land.
The 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 interdict hearings were held in the Cape Town High Court last week, where all parties were given an opportunity to respond to the complaint.
"The judgement has been reserved and we will probably get the judgement next week," one of the lawyers told Reuters on Friday.
The battle has been going on for over a year, with several protests taking place outside the site and a petition signed by over 500 people being submitted to the Planning Appeals Advisory Panel.
The city previously stated the development design would contribute significantly to the province’s economy through the creation of up to 19 000 indirect and induced jobs.
It noted that one of the overarching goals of its Municipal Spatial Development Framework is sustainable development that balances ecological conservation and urban development – which is among the aims and objectives of the River Club Development project.
“The planned mixed-use development will be a significant boost to the economy and the people of Cape Town in the aftermath of the national COVID-19 lockdown,” said former City of Cape Town executive mayor Dan Plato in a media statement released last year.
“We are acutely aware of the need to balance investment and job creation, along with heritage and planning considerations. It is clear this development offers many economic, social and environmental benefits for the area. We are committed to driving investment to revitalise the economy, which is slowly recovering following the impact of COVID-19.”
However, in its court application, Liesbeek Action Campaign also raised concerns that illegal construction procedures were followed by the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, without the approval of all parties involved, in an attempt to hasten the building of the site.
“We believe the re-zoning and environmental authorisation decisions by the City of Cape Town and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning will be found invalid by the High Court. On three occasions the developers were asked to hold off construction pending the High Court review, but they refused and have proceeded with building as fast as possible,” according to a statement released by the campaign group earlier this month.
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