Today was our first day in court. After a long delay, it was a relief to get to court.
Our legal team was led by Advocate Alan Dodson because the advocate originally scheduled to represent us for the November dates, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, was unavailable for January. We needed to get into court as soon as possible after the November hearing was postponed by the Judge's illness.
The day started with a ceremonial blessing from Khoi traditional leaders and shamans for the legal team entering court. Most of the day was taken up with presentation by our counsel of arguments, interrupted fairly often, by the judge’s questioning. It ended with a presentation by the legal representative for the Forest People’s Programme who entered the case as an amicus curiae to bring a perspective on how states should approach decision-making processes when it pertains to indigenous people.
It was clear that there are a number of issues that are uncontested, at least in the eyes of the judge, one of which is the fact that the land in question has both significant tangible and intangible heritage.
The amicus presentation confirmed the importance of adherence to international rights frameworks that recognise that decision-making involving indigenous persons require special efforts to ensure meaningful participation.
Tomorrow we hear the responses of the counsels for the respondents and Friday will be given over to responses from our counsel.
The powerful presence of a strong indigenous group from different Khoi and San groups present to protest the development was unmistakeable, notwithstanding the presence of some Khoi supporters of the development.
We are pushing hard to persuade the judge that our grounds for the interdict are strong.
The court hearings are livestreamed on Facebook at this link. We are still awaiting confirmation of the You Tube channel link and will post that as soon as we can.
And, as always, please help us fund these legal costs by contributing at our fundraising site.
Visit our website and follow the Liesbeek Action Campaign on twitter: @LiesbeekAction.
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