CAPE TOWN, March 21 — Organizations of local residents and indigenous Khoisan on Sunday welcomed a court interdict on the ongoing construction of a project that will house American retail giant Amazon’s African headquarters in Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa.
Observatory Civic Association represents Observatory residents and the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council, a Khoisan group, said in a statement that they will seek for the court ruling to repeal the permit of developing the project located in the Observatory area.
The 4 billion-rand (about 270 million U.S. dollars) project named River Club will provide retailer and office spaces that covers 150,000 square meters of floor area. It is expected to create economic benefits like creating over 5,000 direct jobs and 13,700 indirect jobs during the construction phase, stimulating business development.
However, Observatory Civic Association and the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council, a Khoisan group, applied for an urgent interdict to court on the project and argued that it could “irrevocably destroy the intangible heritage of the sacred site and contravene numerous environmental sustainability policies.”
High court judge Patricia Goliath on Friday ruled that the construction should stop immediately as “the fundamental right to culture and heritage of Indigenous Groups, more particularly the Khoi and San First Nations Peoples, are under threat in the absence of proper consultation.” (Xinhua)
