TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      MTN shares climb on robust Nigeria, SA performance

      11 August 2022

      MTN receives $35-million offer for Afghanistan unit

      11 August 2022

      MTN South Africa weathers load shedding storm

      11 August 2022

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      Willington Ngwepe to step down as Icasa CEO

      10 August 2022
    • World

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022

      Disney tops Netflix in streaming subscribers

      11 August 2022

      Jumia says it’s past peak losses, shares jump

      10 August 2022

      Elon Musk sells $6.9-billion of Tesla to avoid Twitter fire sale

      10 August 2022

      Nvidia issues profit warning on slump in demand for graphics cards

      8 August 2022
    • In-depth

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022

      Webb telescope’s stunning images of the cosmos

      12 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022

      Demystifying the complexity of AI – fact vs fiction

      6 July 2022
    • Opinion

      SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

      19 July 2022

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Battle still raging over Amazon’s planned Cape Town headquarters

    Battle still raging over Amazon’s planned Cape Town headquarters

    News By Steve Kretzmann4 December 2021
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Artist’s impression of the new development

    Papers before the Western Cape high court have cast doubt on claims that thousands of jobs will be lost if the controversial R4.5-billion property development at the River Club in Observatory, which includes Amazon.com as an anchor tenant, does not go ahead. The River Club site was not on Amazon’s shortlist for its new regional headquarters.

    This is revealed in an affidavit by founding partner and executive chairman of DHK Architects, Derick Henstra, which forms part of the Observatory Civic Association’s legal challenge to the development at the confluence of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers.

    Henstra states that in 2018, Amazon sent a request for proposals to a number of property development companies for development of its new regional headquarters in Cape Town.

    The River Club site was not one of the five sites on that shortlist

    DHK assisted “several” of the companies to prepare their proposals, Henstra said. He said after receiving the proposals, Amazon shortlisted sites in Century City, the Waterfront, Harbour Arch near Culemborg, the Galleria in Tygervalley, and a site on the Foreshore.

    “The River Club site was not one of the five sites on that shortlist,” he states.

    The development is being opposed by several civic and indigenous organisations on cultural and environmental grounds. Earlier this year, former mayor Dan Plato told Carte Blanche that should the objectors get their way, over 5 000 job opportunities would be lost, and a further 15 000 jobs lost in potential spin-offs.

    ‘Surprised’

    Henstra states he was “surprised” when it was announced, the Amazon headquarters would be built on the River Club site, which is owned by Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust.

    “I was very surprised, first because in my view that site is not appropriate for such a development, and second because proceeding with that site involved a much higher degree of risk than several of the other qualifying sites.”

    He said he believed the site is not appropriate because it is a sacred heritage site and “a very environmentally sensitive piece of land”. Objectors have said it was here where the first colonial land dispossession in South Africa took place as the Dutch forced the Khoi from their grazing lands, and where the Khoi successfully fought Portuguese admiral, Francisco D’Almeida, in 1510.

    Henstra said he was in no doubt Amazon was committed to establishing a regional headquarters in Cape Town and employing more people, and there were several suitable sites meeting Amazon’s requirements.

    The legal challenge was due to be heard in the Western Cape high court on 25 and 26 November, but has been postponed

    The Observatory Civic Association and Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council are seeking an urgent interdict to halt the River Club development – which started building work on 26 June – ahead of arguing their case that permission granted for the development violates the National Heritage Resources Act and the National Environmental Management Act.

    The main thrust of their legal argument is that the environmental authorisation for the development granted by the provincial department of environmental affairs & development planning, was unlawful, because the heritage impact assessment, which forms part of the necessary environmental impact assessment, was not accepted by the heritage authority, Heritage Western Cape.

    Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust argues that the MEC for environmental affairs & development planning was not bound by the heritage impact assessment in making his decision, and that Heritage Western Cape did not sufficiently indicate what it required of the assessment for it to be ratified.

    The legal challenge was due to be heard in the Western Cape high court on 25 and 26 November, but has been postponed due to the presiding judge, Judge Patricia Goliath, being ill.

    Envisioned retail space at the River Club development

    Leslie London, chair of the Observatory Civic Association, which is the first applicant in the case, told GroundUp that Western Cape judge-president John Hlophe should have allocated another judge as the matter is urgent, but instead told the association to negotiate a new date with Goliath. London says that when the association went back to apply for a new date after a suitable date could not be found in December, Hlophe again refused.

    Hlophe, whose conduct is being probed by the Judicial Services Commission, is engaged in a battle with Goliath. Goliath laid a formal complaint with the commission two years ago, claiming Hlophe victimised her.

    “We believe that he is not treating an urgent interdict as urgent,” London says. The battle between Hlophe and Goliath would work in the developers’ favour, he says. The more they build, the more difficult it would be for the court to order them to return the site to its original condition, should the court find in the applicants’ favour.

    • This article is © 2021 GroundUp and is republished on TechCentral under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence
    • You can read the original article on GroundUp here
    Amazon Dan Plato Derick Henstra DHK Architects John Hlope
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleE-waste regulations come into force, with threat of fines and jail time
    Next Article Load shedding is back – stage 2 until Monday

    Related Posts

    MTN shares climb on robust Nigeria, SA performance

    11 August 2022

    MTN receives $35-million offer for Afghanistan unit

    11 August 2022

    MTN South Africa weathers load shedding storm

    11 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022

    5 ways to make attack-path management more manageable

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    SIU seeks to set aside R215-million IT tender

    19 July 2022

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.