News24.com | Costs blow to community organisation that challenged River Club development

Artists' impression of the River Club Development. Photo: Archievef/LLPT

• The SCA dismissed an application by the OCA regarding the costs of challenging aspects of the River Club development.
• The court found that requirements for special leave to appeal were not met.
• The OCA is a community organisation which raised funds to take the matter to court.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed an application by the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) for leave to appeal a part of last year's River Club Development judgment, which paved the way for further construction, unhindered by court orders. 

In a short note regarding the OCA's application, the court said the requirements for special leave to appeal were not met. 

In March 2022, Judge Patricia Goliath granted  Tauriq Jenkins, the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) and the OCA an order that the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust, which is developing the River Club site, stop building to allow for further consultation on the heritage significance of the land to the Khoi and San. 

During the slew of court applications related to whether the building could carry on or not, the GKKITC seemed to cleave itself in two, with one side supporting activist and academic Jenkins, as a GKKITC high commissioner mandated to represent their views on the cultural significance of the site. The other rejected him as a fraud, as culture, history, job opportunities and financial investment collided.

READ | River Club development saga: Activist returns to court hoping for one more shot

After a short stoppage, site maintenance and preparation on the R4.5 billion project resumed, setting off several applications and counter-applications, as well as accusations of contempt, in the David vs Goliath case.

In November, Goliath's order was rescinded, and the pace of construction has picked up markedly. 

Comment from the OCA was not immediately available, but it said in a fund-raising petition on Change.org that the court should not have awarded costs against them because their litigation was not vexatious, but in the public interest.

The costs would have been enormous, given the opposition the community organisation faced in its challenges to the development.

In the meantime, on 6 June, Jenkins intends applying for leave to appeal the November ruling as it relates to the finding that he had no standing with regard to presenting the GKKITC's views.

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