The LLPT’s strategy of forging ahead with construction in an attempt to “build itself into an impregnable position” despite the law, continued this yesterday.

Yesterday morning, the LLPT served a 133 page answering affidavit in response to the proceedings which the OCA and GKKITC launched on Friday 8 July to have the trustees of the LLPT be declared in contempt of court. The LLPT claimed that they needed more time to file further affidavits, and consequently the matter should not be heard in urgent court yesterday. However, their papers revealed that they had planned to recommence construction ever before Deputy Judge President rejected their application for leave to appeal in the Cape High Court on 5th May.   They received an opinion from counsel dated 4 May 2022 suggesting that the interim interdict prohibiting construction would be suspended if they lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeal. 

We disagree. Deputy Judge President Goliath’s interim interdict ordering the LLPT to stop construction until the validity of its authorisations had been determined, is perfectly clear. This interim order does not become “final in effect” (and consequently suspended by an appeal) simply because the judge also made an order that a consultation process with excluded First Nations groups should be undertaken. 

To avoid the risk of the matter being struck off the role and being delayed for months if the presiding judge did not have had time to properly consider the LLPT’s lengthy papers yesterday, our legal team agreed to the matter being set down for hearing on 27 July. On that day the LLPT will be required to show why the court should not grant the orders stopping construction and finding the LLPT trustees in contempt of court. 

Meanwhile outside the court the ongoing campaign of personal attacks on the spokespersons of the GKKITC and the OCA continued, led by members of the First Nations Collective. The First Nations Collective were not in court yesterday, nor were they served with any papers, but they elected to colonise the steps of the High Court to orchestrate a demonstration of abuse and vilification against opponents of the development – all orchestrated in support of the LLPT, who immediately posted pictures on their FB page.

It is deeply disappointing that Khoi leaders have offered themselves to serve the LLPT’s purposes in this instrumental way rather than joining the other 18 Khoi and San entities who have indicated that the development is an offence to their cultural and living heritage. Rather than savaging those organisations who have stood up to insist that invalid and unlawful decisions be scrutinised, the FNC should be welcoming the SAHRA’s forthcoming grading of the Two Rivers Urban Park as a National Heritage Site, a grading that could open the door to a far more fulsome recognition of the intangible heritage of a the site that is slated to be a central part of the National Khoi and San Liberation trail. 

The South African state has long exploited and degraded the indigenous peoples of the region, leaving deep emotional and psychic scars. The LLPT has ruthlessly exploited this vulnerability to their purposes, which are not to respect the heritage of the Khoi and San people but rather the to secure their highly profitable investment. 

We urge all people of South Africa to take action and stand with us. We urge for the public to recognise this area as a major historical site and therefore heritage site of resistance by the indigenous people of South Africa who defeated the first colonisers in 1510. 

But the fight to defend this site and what it could offer South Africa needs your support. 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. 

Make the Liesbeek Matter!