The ongoing controversy around the River Club redevelopment continues.
Last week, the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT), the developer of Amazon’s proposed African headquarters, said it has filed for leave to appeal against a court ruling halting any further construction of the R4.6 billion redevelopment project in Observatory.
Late last month, Western Cape Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath ruled that construction be paused and that the developers should hold “meaningful engagement” and consultation with all affected parties (Order suspends building operation, People’s Post, 29 March).
This following the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) and the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKTC) lodging an urgent application to interdict the ongoing construction at the site in Observatory.
James Tannenberger, Trustee and spokesperson for LLPT, says it is in the interests of justice that leave to appeal be granted.
He says if the order remains operable, 6 000 direct and 19 000 indirect jobs will be lost. He says this includes the 750 construction workers who were told to go home when the ruling was delivered.
Tannenberger adds that the broader community will also lose the significant socio-economic and environmental benefits.
“This includes the provision of developer subsidised inclusionary housing, for those people that otherwise cannot afford to live in this suburb; major upgrades to surrounding roads and safe and accessible green parks and gardens that will be open to the public.”
According to Tannenberger, the court failed to consider properly the evidence that by interdicting the LLPT from carrying out any construction work, the LLPT and the wider community would suffer severe and irreversible harm.
Tannenberger says the order is also a violation of well-established legal principles on inadmissible hearsay evidence. “The court should not have relied on inferences made by the applicant’s advocate for the first time at the hearing that persons or groups were excluded from the public participation/ consultation processes.”
Tannenberger further claims that the applicants, Tauriq Jenkins, High Commissioner GKKTC and Prof Leslie London, chair of the OCA, have “no legitimate claim” over the intangible heritage of the broader Two Rivers area, of which the River Club comprises 5%.
“However, both of them were provided with an opportunity to submit their comments regarding the proposed redevelopment during the lengthy development approval process. Their comments were responded to and considered by the relevant authorities, who approved the project.”
Tannenberger also states that Jenkins and the GKKTC were invited to participate in the consultations with First Nations Groups, however, they voluntarily “elected to pull out” of these processes.
“For these reasons, we will again ask for an appearance in court to evidence the injustice of allowing these applicants, who have no legitimate standing in the Khoi and San community and who clearly have no interest in the social upliftment of surrounding communities, to block this world-class project and the many critical opportunities it will bring, including much needed jobs.”
The OCA and the GKKTC released a joint statement stating: “The judge granted an interim interdict stopping construction until a court has decided whether or not the authorisations for the development were granted lawfully. It is not a final interdict and its effects are not final, and consequently it is not appealable.”
The statement further reads: “We believe the LLPT appeal is a misplaced attempt to re-argue issues that were covered in the interdict hearing.”
