Today the Cape High Court heard two cases related to the River Club re-development.

In the first case, from 12 noon, an urgent interdict that had been brought by three persons, claiming to be Goringhaicona members, alleged that the decision to oppose the River Club development by the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) was not a valid one under the GKKITC’s constitution; further, that High Commissioner Tauriq Jenkins and Paramount Chief Aran were acting unilaterally and without the support of the structures of the GKKITC. Along with these claims were a serious of scurrilous and defamatory allegations against Tauriq Jenkins’ person. This 500-page application was delivered to Tauriq on Monday with one day to submit a replying affidavit and threatening costs if he and Paramount Aran did not oppose!

The late submission was worse than unreasonable and designed to intimidate Tauriq and other Khoi opponents of the development. Moreover, the timing and linking of the application to the contempt hearings revealed a more sinister intention – to derail the efforts to hold the LLPT Trustees accountable and to delay the contempt proceedings.

The claims made in the application are not surprising since the tactics of the forces behind the development have shifted in a desperate attempt to smear, slander and undermine opponents who stand firm against the development and for protection of indigenous heritage. The bizarre aspect of this application was the fact that all these ‘unhappy’ applicants knew since 2018, if not earlier, that the Goringhaicona were opposing the development and certainly from 2021 knew that the GKKITC were going to court.  In fact, at least one of these applicants was present at our protests in 2021 against the development. Yet the three individuals waited almost a year before lodging an ‘urgent’ interdict in this week. The ‘urgency’ of the application was premised on the fact that the contempt hearing would be happening today. There is no clearer reason behind the application than the fact that the application documents revealed the deep involvement of Tania Kleinhans-Cedras, a member of the First Nations Collective, in convening meetings of Goringhaicona women to form an opposition to the GKKITC.

After hearing arguments, Judge Fortuin struck the matter from the roll.

This was a great victory since it showed up the manufactured urgency that underlie the application and the willingness of those supporting the development to try any dirty tactics possible. And our supporters celebrated this joyfully outside the High Court as can be seen above.

In the afternoon, the court considered the allegations against the LLPT Trustees for Contempt of Court, since they had initiated construction in violation of Judge Goliath’ March 18 interdict which prohibited any further construction until the review of the approval decision. We could not get to the substance of the matter because Judge Fortuin was given the papers too late to adequately assess the case. However, the reason she got the papers so late was because the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, Judge Hlope, failed, over 10 days, to allocate the matter to a Judge. This was after the matter was tabled as urgent and the parties had agreed, on the 12th July, to hold the matter over to the 27th July. It was only by elevating the matter to ‘urgent’ again, that a judge could be found. But the judge could not hear the merits of the case as it required more time to consider.

This is very disappointing as there is no doubt in our minds that the ongoing construction in contempt of court and the delays in hearing the matter advantage the developers in every way. It is infuriating that no matter how hard we push and how carefully we follow procedure, delays arising in the legal system allow the developers to continue to get away with what we believe are crimes – heritage crimes, environmental crimes and now civil contempt of court.

However, we do know that the matter will be heard next week. We will keep you updated.

There were two things very clear about today’s events outside the court room.

Firstly, it was abundantly obvious that there was widespread and genuine support from a variety of First Nations activists and leaders for our peaceful demonstration. Some came from other parts of the country to express their support such as Paramount Chief Andrews of the Guriqua from the West Coast, King Khoisan SA (who has been protesting outside the Union Buildings for three years for the recognition of the Khoi and San as the first indigenous people of South Africa) and Chief Shaun Green of the National Aboriginal Governance Council; others included Danab Gregg Fick of FINSA and Chief Autshumao of the Western Cape Legislative Khoi-San Council as well as many leaders and activists from the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng. This was in contrast to the manufactured and bussed-in crowds for the FNC, who excelled at being vocal but were unable to answer why they were there and what they were protesting about. It puts the lie to the idea that the FNC are representative of First Nation peoples in this matter.

The second striking difference from the 12th July was that the Public Order Policing were present to do their job properly this time. They made sure there was no intimidation, threats or assaults, and they did so without interfering in people’s rights to protest. No chiefs or activists were manhandled, threatened, pushed or belittled as was the case previously. We were able to exercise our rights to protest and did so without fear of threat.

This is the democracy that South Africans fought for and this why we continue our campaign, unflinchingly – to secure the River Club site as part of a national heritage park which can be nominated as a UNESCO heritage site. It is a cultural landscape of immense importance and that is why every day the concrete flows on that site, indigenous people experience it as an affront to their heritage and memory of ancestral life.

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!