Construction of Amazon’s new Cape Town headquarters will likely steam ahead now after the developers of the River Club site were successful with their leave to appeal a previous order, that they stop building.

The Western High Court also granted an application to rescind Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath’s previous judgment of 22 March.

The Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust has welcomed the judgment.

They say this is a major win for all Capetonians who stand to benefit from the R4.6 billion project.

The judgment found:

• The applicants (the Observatory Civic Association and Tauriq Jenkins) failed to establish a prima facie right, as they could not demonstrate that the right to heritage is at risk of suffering any harm, let alone irreparable harm, which is a jurisdictional requirement for an interim interdict.
• The court papers indicated that the development might enhance the land’s resources having regard to the degraded state of the site when the authorizations were granted.
• The judgment also granted the recission application, launched by the elders and members of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin indigenous Traditional Council (GKKTIC), against the entire Goliath DJP judgment and Orders.

In their recission papers the GKKTIC elders accused Tauriq Jenkins of misrepresenting facts in the Goliath court hearing and subsequently trying to coerce certain First Nation parties into signing affidavits against their wishes.

In her ruling, Judge Baartman stated the following: “am persuaded that the judgment dated 18 March 2022 was induced by fraud. Mr Jenkins misrepresented the first applicants (GKKTIC) Constitution and did not have the authorization to launch the proceedings that culminated in the judgment. He further misrepresented the views of some indigenous leaders without consulting them.”

The Full Bench judgment also rescinds Goliath DJP’s judgment and orders on these grounds.

The judgment has also awarded costs to the appellants against the first respondent, the Observatory Civic Association (OCA). The OCA has been ordered to pay the costs of all the appellants in the court a quo (where the appeal originated from) as well as the SCA case.

The developers say the River Club redevelopment will create numerous benefits for the City and the Province. This includes 6000 direct and 19 000 indirect jobs and the Cape Peninsula Khoi memorialising their cultural heritage associated with the area, including the establishment of a Heritage, Cultural and Media Centre.

”The project will also deliver developer subsidised affordable housing, safe and accessible green parks and gardens, significant road and other infrastructure upgrades in the area and the major rehabilitation of the polluted and degraded waterways adjacent to the property.”

READ MORE: River Club: Developers warn of immense losses if project delayed

Meanwhile, the Liesbeek Action Campaign says they are deeply disappointed at the outcome.

“We believe this case is about the extraction of profit for a few at the expense of the voice of the majority of people of South Africa, indigenous people protecting their intangible heritage, environmental activists concerned about the impact of an inappropriate development on climate resilience and biodiversity protection and social justice advocates concerned about manipulation of democratic processes of decision-making when it comes to development applications. The ready access to highly-paid legal teams has meant that a civic organisation and an Indigenous council have been outmanoevered in a play of lawfare. We are taking further legal advice on how best to proceed.”