Majority Rule

THE RIVER CLUB COURT RULING – AN IMPORTANT INTERIM VICTORY

In what can be considered a victory for the rights of indigenous Khoi and San people, Western Cape Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath has interdicted the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) from further construction earmarked for among other things, offices for multinational giant Amazon.com, at the River Club site in Observatory, Cape Town.

The Unity Movement has been a staunch supporter of the groups who have been struggling resolutely in what is not unlike a David vs Goliath battle to prevent an out-and-out capitalist exploitation of land which has significant heritage, cultural and environmental value. Needless to say, the developers have ridden roughshod over these sensitivities, and have offered some token gesture to try to allay concerns.

In typical style, the developers have attempted to legitimise their plans by co-opting a group of opportunists among the ranks of the affected groups who pose as “representatives of the people.” This group, styling itself the “First Nations Collective” (FNC) has tried to position itself as the true representatives of the people, but have convinced nobody.

But the struggle is far from over. The interdict does not call for the dismantling of work done so far. It does not require that the tons of concrete already cast on the site be demolished. It requires a review to be done of the relevant environmental and land-use authorisations by the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. And it requires “meaningful consultation with all affected First Nations people.”

The groupings engaged in the progressive struggle to prevent the development from going ahead include, among others, the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council and the Observatory Civic Association. Their court action has held up, at least for the moment, what is intended to be a R4.6 billion capitalist development.

As the Unity Movement, we welcome all victories, large and small, and are well aware that in this case, the battle will be a long and hard one. Something we should not lose sight of is that this is a victory-by-court-case, hardly a working class means of struggle! So we should see it only as a moral victory of sorts, since the court has ordered the capitalists to go and consult with the aggrieved parties. Who’s to know what the consultation process will yield? It is extremely doubtful that everything will end with the tons of concrete so far laid being broken down and the land restored to its former state. Thus, there is a strong possibility of a compromise solution. We might see some selling-out happening. The only way this could be prevented is through the determined efforts of a strong, united people’s movement, something like we saw at Xolobeni.

The Unity Movement will continue to support the struggle to prevent the capitalist desecration of this important piece of land.

Below is a section of a statement by the Unity Movement on 17 January 2022, in which Movement president Dr Basil Brown lambasts minister Lindiwe Sisulu for her hypocrisy on, among other things, the River Club property.

And then there is the matter of her heart bleeding for the indigenous people of this country. She says, “When it comes to crucial economic issues and property matters, the same African (her “House Negro”) cosies up with their elitist colleagues to sing from the same hymn book, spouting the Roman-Dutch law of property.” Yet, this is EXACTLY what she did when she was minister of water affairs and sanitation!

She occupied this post in the cabinet from May 2019 to August 2021. In this period, she disregarded the interests of the indigenous Khoi and San communities by uplifting the suspension of a Water Use License in favour of the developers of the highly contentious River Club development at the confluence of the Liesbeek and Black rivers in Observatory, Cape Town. She exercised ministerial discretion in favouring the applicants over the appellants, at least one of whom was an Indigenous Khoi council for whom the site is a reminder of indigenous resistance against colonial intrusion at the Cape, and one that is sacred for all South Africans for that reason.

The development of the River Club property began with the sale of the land in 2015 and resulted in approval of the rezoning of the property and the granting of an Environmental Authorisation for the development in 2020. A number of interested and affected parties, including organisations of Khoi/San Indigenous groups opposed the development on the basis of the harm the development would cause to the environment, the adverse impacts on heritage and the consequences of the development for our country’s climate change resilience. The site is part of an environmentally sensitive floodplain and an area sacred to the Khoi/San in terms of intangible heritage and memory. For someone who is attempting to pose as a fierce critic of “robbery of other people’s land,” and “the co-option and invitation of political powerbrokers to the dinner table … while they dine caviar with colonised capital,” the contradiction that “8% of the population control 80% of the land and its resources,” how is it that she hands the keys to a bunch of rich “white boys” (all 5 development’s directors are white men) who will house the headquarters of one of the biggest if not the biggest transnational corporation set up by the wealthiest billionaire in the world, to pursue private profiteering?

If she truly believes “land is where it all begins”, why did she uplift the suspension of a license which allows sacred land to be consolidated as a private benefit to rich capitalists?

And, most bizarrely, if she is really concerned about “where is the indigenous law?” why does she trample the rights of indigenous Khoi and San peoples who have appealed to stop this development?

Sisulu’s contradictions on the River Club, cosying up to what looks like the clearest example of “white monopoly capital” in her exercising of ministerial discretion on the matter are unambiguous examples of her hypocrisy.

MARCH 2022