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WCape fights halting of Amazon HQ construction

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 11 Apr 2022

Western Cape MEC of local government, environmental affairs and development planning, Anton Bredell, has launched an appeal against deputy judge president Patricia Goliath’s decision to urgently interdict construction of the R4.6 billion River Club re-development in Observatory, Cape Town.

This, after a court interdict filed by the organisers of the Liesbeek Action Campaign halted the construction of the 15-hectare parcel of land, which is expected to house US retail giant Amazon’s African headquarters, along with other large commercial businesses.

In the legal battle, the members of the Liesbeek Action Campaign, which include indigenous groups and environmentalists, expressed concern that 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.

They also alleged illegal construction procedures were followed by the developers of the vicinity, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT), without the approval of all parties involved, in an attempt to hasten the building of the site.

In the latest development, the MEC says his decision to appeal follows a thorough consideration of the judgement and the order, as well as the practical implications thereof.

“There are a number of errors in the judgement and the order, inter alia, is fraught with misunderstandings about the wide public participation processes undertaken.

“Among the errors identified in the judgement were problems such as the court making a ruling on issues which were not argued by the applicants as part of their case in the first place and the MEC is of the view that the court failed to undertake the exercise of weighing the balance of convenience, as it should have in an interdict application,” notes a statement from the MEC’s office.

Last month, LLPT vowed to contest the ruling, noting the development is expected to create 6 000 direct jobs in total (800 of these jobs will only be created when the development is complete) and an additional 19 000 indirect jobs.

“The result of the interdict is the immediate suspension of thousands of permanent jobs in the Western Cape.

“Between June 2021 and March 2022, just under 4 000 workers have been employed during various stages of construction on the site. When the ruling was delivered on Friday, 18 March, there were 750 workers on the site who were sent home due to a halt in construction,” said the company.

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