The developers of the River Club site in Cape Town, which will include Amazon as a tenant, argue that what they are constructing and planning will protect the heritage of First Nations people, not destroy it, as some claim.

Advocate Sean Rosenberg SC for the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust (LLPT) told the Western Cape High Court the site and Liesbeek and Black rivers near it would be significantly upgraded from the dire state of neglect it had fallen into before the development.

Rosenberg was arguing in an appeal to overturn an interdict to stop the building granted by Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath to the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) and Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council (GKKITC) in March.

Goliath felt there had not been enough consultation with all the First Nations people and interdicted further construction, pending resolution of the consultation issue.

There is no dispute the site is of significance to First Nations people as grazing lands and places of ceremony before they were dispossessed of the land.

At issue is whether there was proper consultation over the development, and whether the interdict to stop building was justified.

On Tuesday, the court kicked off with an application on behalf of a group of Ghoringaicona, a First Nations grouping. They alleged the man who got the interdict on behalf of the GKKITC, Tauriq Jenkins, had no standing to act on their behalf.

They want Goliath’s interdict order rescinded and allege he misled her over inadequate consultation.

This bid to isolate him was a surprise in a previous iteration of the many court challenges over the development.

Jenkins said any document purporting to show he had no standing in the GKKITC was unprocedural, insisting he was the supreme high commissioner with a mandate to represent Ghoringaicona interests.

He was initially running his application with the OCA, but on Tuesday was alone in arguing as a layperson that a group called the First Nations Collective, which supports the development, wanted him out of the way.

In their papers, the GKKITC (the faction rejecting Jenkins) said they supported the development.

After the rescission application, the court moved on to an appeal against the interdict to stop building by the developers, provincial and City of Cape Town authorities.

Judges Hayley Slingers, Elizabeth Baartman and James Lekhuleni made up the full bench to hear it.

Goliath had originally refused leave to appeal, and it was later set down for the three other judges to hear it.

Rosenberg told the judges the site had been run down and neglected over the years, with rubbish floating in the river with a polluted canal nearby.

He argued the development would actually restore the site and, in the process, honour First Nations heritage for the first time in the form of an indigenous garden, a cultural heritage centre and a heritage walk.

If the appeal fails, there is a real threat to the entire project, and it was argued the chance to protect the heritage and cultural value of the site would be lost.

Amazon Development Company would be the main tenant in the retail section of the development, where the web services and a call centre would be located.

The developer has also agreed to road widening, new roads, a bridge over the Black River, internal roads, and utility services infrastructure.

Construction is expected to be completed by 30 November 2022.

The building will be handed over to prepare for tenants, and the lease commencement dates are set for 1 December 2023.

According to Rosenberg, if Amazon pulled out, up to 8 000 construction workers would lose their jobs, with the effect on their families multiplied.

The project will also have a residential component, with an urban park, and cycling and walking parks.

If the project is cancelled, LLPT’s losses will include R10 million in financing fees to and the repayment to the bank of all advances and payments.

If, for any reason, LLPT does not build the services it said it would, the City would also have to build them at the LLPT’s costs, according to the agreements reached.

To cover this, the developers’ bank gave the City a payment guarantee of R85 million from LLPT.

The appeal will continue on Wednesday.

News24