Developers of the controversial River Club are forging ahead with construction work at the site expected to house Amazon's African headquarters, despite pending legal challenges.
A high court interdict by the Western Cape High Court in March 2022 that stopped the development was rescinded in November because it was allegedly obtained "through fraud".
Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust (LLPT) said work on phase one of the development was ongoing, buoyed by the decision of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA)'s special grading and declaration review committee to recommend that the River Club not be provisionally protected.
LLPT said the decision "recognised that the memorialisation of the intangible heritage significance of the site could coexist with the development".
SAHRA confirmed the recommendation but said the decision was yet to be ratified by its council.
"While we recognise the intangible heritage significance of the TRUP (Three Rivers Urban Park) in its entirety and the River Club specifically, we are of the view that hundreds of years of development has severely eroded any tangible elements remaining on the site.
"SAHRA will be embarking to ensure that the historical events that took place in the space are memorialised and commemorated through interpretation and ensuring access to the site for the first nations that find it significant for their cultural practices,“ said SAHRA’s manager for built environment, Ben Mwasinga.
The Observatory Civic Association (OCA), which also lodged an application for the review of authorisations for the development, said the historical significance of the site wasn’t in dispute by any party except the developers and their supporters.
Chairperson of OCA, Professor Leslie London, said: "The point is that the heritage on the River Club site is an intangible heritage associated with cultural memory and the open space of the site.
“SAHRA agrees that the site is highly significant and will continue grading the site, likely meaning it will join the SAAO Observatory as a National Heritage Site, based, not on tangible relics (graves, buildings, etc), but on intangible heritage.“
The Western Cape High Court was expected to hear later this year the application for the review of the authorisations granted by the provincial and municipal authorities for the development.
The civic body lodged the review application arguing that the environmental authorisation granted by the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning was unlawful because the heritage impact assessment, which formed part of the necessary environmental impact assessment, wasn’t accepted by the Heritage Western Cape.
The application would also challenge the rezoning of the site by the City of Cape Town.
Another appeal was lodged against the Water Use Licence issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation under the leadership of former minister Lindiwe Sisulu in 2021.
The Water Tribunal didn’t meet to consider the appeal. The developers went ahead with the construction despite the appeal.
"We are moving ahead with part B of the review, which will ask the High Court to consider the legality of the decisions to authorise the building,“ explained London.
"In our founding papers, the case was made that if the developers proceeded, they did so at their own risk, since our case argues that the land should be returned to what it was when we lodged papers one week after construction began," London said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Appeal was expected to hear, on April 17, an application for leave to appeal a November 2022 ruling that Tauriq Jenkins, who represented the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC), was "determined to stop the development at all costs".
Other members of the GKKITC had argued that Jenkins wasn’t the rightful representative as he had allegedly fabricated a constitution to suit his objective.
Jenkins has argued in the court papers that the court had erred in its decision.
Weekend Argus