Today the Cape High Court heard the Observatory Civic Association’s (OCA) urgent interdict seeking to halt the ongoing construction at the River Club, that the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust restarted on 27th June, in violation of Judge Goliath’s 18th March interdict. For a change, the developers and their allies could find no way of delaying the application, which was heard as an urgent matter before Judge Dolamo today. The interdict was lodged by the OCA with confirmatory affidavits from the Southern African Khoi and San Kingdom Council, the First Indigenous Nations of Southern Africa (FINSA) and the Kai Korana Transfrontier Royal House. The Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) stood back from the application to avoid mischief delaying the application, but are solidly supportive of our application for an interdict.
The interdict application was prompted by the fact that our previous application, lodged by the OCA and the GKKITC on 8th July was repeatedly blocked by various delaying tactics, mainly the sudden appearance of a group of individuals claiming to be the GKKITC National Executive Council, who tried to usurp the authority of High Commissioner Tauriq Jenkins to represent the GKKITC in legal action. Every time we tried to get into court, the fake group found some legal trick to delay the hearing. The last strategy, after Judge Hlope ordered the contempt matter to be heard on the 22nd August, was for the fake group’s lawyer to simply not file responding papers, and then claim the matter was not ready to be heard – as a result, the matter could not be heard on the 22nd August.
Today our council argued clearly that the rule of law dictates that if an interdict is issued, it is an urgent matter that the court enforce it. He showed that the arguments of the LLPT, which claim that Judge Goliath’s interdict was final in effect and therefore appealable, are not valid legally, since the intent and wording of the interdict were clearly interim – to halt the construction until the review makes a finding. He showed clearly that the interdict met all the legal criteria to be considered interim in nature. He pointed out that LLPT would be able to build themselves literally into an impregnable position if the construction was not halted as intended. He confirmed the irreparable harm that would ensure if the construction was not halted, as identified by Judge Goliath. LLPT were aware of the risk but proceeded. Since they are acting unlawfully, they cannot argue their financial loss is critical.
The LLPT counsel repeated the same arguments as in their appeal and the counsel for the fake Goringhaicona group relied on simply smearing the name and character of Tauriq Jenkins as if it has anything to do with the interdict. It was truly a sorry state of affairs that a last-minute affidavit could be produced which introduced WhatsApp message from Paramount Chief Aran plus all kind of irrelevant, but poisonous attacks on Tauriq Jenkins.
The court could not conclude the full hearing today but it did hear all the arguments from all the parties. It was agreed that the OCA counsel will submit a written response by Tuesday as its final argument and the fake Gorginhaicona group will have till Thursday to respond, whereafter the judge will make his decision.
There was a good showing of support from Khoi and community activists. The FINSA and Western Cape Legislative Khoisan Council had a strong presence as did the Goringhaicona NEC. The FNC’s rent-a-crowd were nowhere to be seen.
We should expect a decision any time after Thursday next week.
It has been extraordinarily stressful, particularly for High Commissioner Tauriq Jenkins, who has been viciously smeared in their court documents. This is all part of the ongoing harassment of anyone trying to exercise their rights to oppose the development.
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