On the 18th March 2022, Judge Goliath issued an interim interdict prohibiting the developers from continuing construction at the River Club development in Observatory pending the outcome of the High Court review of the authorisation decisions (Part B). On the 5th May, she also rejected the developers’ leave to appeal. Despite this, the developers resumed construction on the site on the 27th June in violation of the interdict. We lodged papers hold the developers in contempt of court on the 8th July 2022.
This matter should have been heard on July 12th but was delayed, with orchestrated intimidation, assault and abuse of opponents of the development taking place outside the High Court on that day. Nevertheless, the parties agreed to hear the contempt and interdict on the 27th July but on that day, it was again delayed, because the Judge dealing with urgent matters, had not had time to review the papers – a situation that arose simply because a judge had not been allocated to hear the matter.
Following a meeting on Thursday 11th August when Judge President Hlope met with all the legal teams involved, a new date was set for Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 August to hear the contempt of court application and Judge Hlope undertook to allocate a judge for the matter.
The contempt application was to be heard along with an extraordinary application by Mr Tim Dunn on behalf of a group of persons claiming to represent the Goringhaicona and disputing the authority of our attorneys to represent the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC). This intervention by Dunn sought to usurp the power of the GKKITC based on a resolution taken by a group of individuals at a secret meeting on the 21st July, without any notice to the GKKITC. This was some 6 days before the contempt hearing was due to be heard in the High Court on the 27th July. The resolution has no legal basis and is, we believe, simply an attempt to insert an unmandated group into the court process, so as to derail the bona fide mandated representatives of an indigenous Khoi Council.
However, yesterday afternoon we were advised by our lawyers, Cullinan and Associates, that "The matters will not he heard on Monday and Tuesday. The Judge President has not allocated a judge to hear them as he undertook to do. This is because Dunn Attorneys have still not filed their replying affidavit in their application to prevent Cullinans from acting for the GKKITC and so the pleadings in that matter are not complete.”
When the contempt case was due to be heard on the 27 July, Tim Dunn sought to intervene on the basis that their intervention (to establish themselves as representing the GKKITC and not Cullinans) was urgent. Yet, now that the date was set to hear that matter, they argue that the matter is not "ripe" for hearing and therefore not urgent. In fact, Mr Dunn indicated he “is now unavailable on Monday and Tuesday, traveling to Durban to attend to another matter there.”
These delaying tactics by the developers and their allies cannot help but make one wonder whether these are Stalingrad tactics being employed in this form of lawfare to which the OCA and GKKITC are being subjected.
(To get a better understanding of “Stalingrad tactics”, read the Mail and Guardian by Helen Acton on “A legal response to Stalingrad tactics that avoid accountability.”)
These tactics are, we believe, also designed to increase the legal fees arising from the case so we once again we urge you to please donate to the legal fund by clicking here. Without your support, we will not be able to see this case through to fruition. We believe we have a very strong case in the review, which is also why we think we are being subjected to these delaying tactics by the proponents of the development who appear reluctant to allow progress that will enable the merits of the case to be subjected to legal scrutiny in the part B of the review.
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