Africa-Press – South-Africa. Western Cape MEC for local government, environmental affairs and development Anton Bredell has filed an application for leave to appeal a high court order suspending construction of a R4.5 billion project that will house Amazon’s African headquarters.
“There are a number of errors in the judgment and the order (…) is fraught with misunderstandings about the wide public participation processes undertaken,” the MEC’s office said in a statement on Monday.
Developer Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust has already lodged court papers seeking leave to appeal Western Cape Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath’s ruling last month that the River Club development in Observatory must be halted.
The developers were ordered to “consult meaningfully” with the affected parties.
The Observatory Civic Association and Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council had argued that the land in question was one of the remaining undeveloped grazing lands the Khoekhoe use for their cattle. It is also used for ceremonies and gatherings.
According to the MEC’s statement, the court erred by making a ruling on issues “which were not argued by the applicants as part of their case in the first place”, and had failed to weigh “the balance of convenience” for an interdict. This essentially means that the MEC will argue that the court did not accurately consider who would suffer less damage or infringement of rights if the interdict was granted.
The Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust is arguing that if the order suspending construction remained in place, some 6 000 direct and 19 000 indirect jobs would be lost. Around 750 construction workers have already been sent home.
The trust said the court had failed to consider the “severe and irreversible harm” that the Cape Town community would suffer if construction didn’t restart.
It added it was planning to construct a centre to preserve the “intangible cultural heritage” of the Cape Peninsula Khoi and their future generations.
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