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- Judgment was reserved in an application for leave to appeal a finding that affects the leadership of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council.
- The application was brought by academic and indigenous knowledge historian Tauriq Jenkins, who says he is the true leader.
- The dispute relates to the consultations and permissions granted for the River Club Development in Cape Town.
Judgment was reserved in the application for leave to appeal a finding over who the true leader of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) is in South Africa as the dispute over permissions granted for the River Club development in Cape Town continues.
At one point, several court cases lined up after Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath ruled in 2022 that construction should stop, pending more consultation with indigenous groups who regard the site as sacred. They argue that although it doesn't have a castle or tangible remnants on it, it is historically significant to the Khoi and San who would have lived there.
One group, the Western Cape First Nations collective, fully supports the development for the job opportunities and the promises to honour their culture in landscaping and displays.
However, the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) and the GKKITC, led by Jenkins, are opposed to it. The GKKITC was surprised when new lawyers arrived at court last year and said they were representing the true leaders of the GKKITC, and they supported the development.
READ | Costs blow to community organisation that challenged River Club development
Jenkins bases his mandate to go to court on a resolution by the GKKITC under its July 2021 constitution. The others in the GKKITC base their mandate on a resolution in 2018 and say theirs is the true mandate and add that Jenkins was suspended from the council.
The Amazon building itself is already at an advanced stage, with windows being fitted to the exterior and construction of supporting infrastructure under way. The project also includes a residential component on the old golf course.
Last year judges Hayley Slingers, James Lekhuleni and Elizabeth Baartman found that Jenkins was not the true leader of the GKKITC and rescinded the order Goliath handed down for construction to stop.
By Tuesday, the struggle was reduced to two parties: Jenkins in an application in his own name, and the GKKITC, represented by the new lawyers.
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The OCA, the Western Cape government, the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust and other interested parties were not involved. It is also not clear what recourse would be left, given that the construction is moving fast.
Jenkins' newly appointed pro bono counsel, advocate Roseline Nyman, argued that Jenkins is not the fraud he was made out to be in that hearing, and it is important for him to clear that up.
She argued that if the judges had accepted his late submission of more than 1 000 pages and considered it before rescinding the stop build order, they would have understood the issues better and would have found that Jenkins is, in fact, the GGKITC high commissioner as he claims.
READ | River Club development saga: Activist returns to court hoping for one more shot
"The court didn't test it and converted it into far-reaching beliefs," Nyman argued.
She said Jenkins was doing everything himself, and the court should have recognised that he was a layperson handling the case by himself and condoned his late filing of his papers. Nyman said Jenkins expected to be able to give evidence, but was not allowed to do so.
"We are talking about the balancing of the scales of justice," she said, asking the court to grant leave to appeal.
Advocate Anton Katz SC for the GKKITC, which supports the project, said Jenkins had claimed that he had the support of a chief, and promised to send an affidavit from the chief, but never did.
And, he said, if Jenkins is the true leader of the GKKITC, it can be dealt with internally by the GKKITC, instead of taking this on an appeal that could take as long as five years to settle.
