Development of multinational retailer Amazon’s new Africa headquarters has suffered a setback after a South African court on Sunday halted work on the site in Cape Town “due to lack of consultations.”
In her ruling, Western Cape High Court judge Patricia Goliath said she stopped the project developer from continuing with works at the site until there had been “meaningful engagement and consultations with the affected indigenous peoples.”
“This matter ultimately concerns the rights of indigenous peoples. The fundamental rights to culture and heritage of indigenous groups, more particularly the Khoi and San First Nations Peoples, are under threat in the absence of proper consultations,” Goliath said.
Construction of the head office development had continued despite the case being before a court of law since last year.
However, Goliath said her ruling should not be construed as a criticism of the development – but that the core issue was that there needed to be proper consultations before Amazon could proceed with the building programme.
South Africa’s earliest inhabitants were the Khoi and the San, the latter roaming as hunter gatherers for tens of thousands of years – and the former joining them as pastoralists more than 2,000 years ago, according to history.
Some of their descendants had objected to the development, where Amazon would be the “anchor tenant” but which also included plans for a hotel, retail offices and homes, as it lies at the confluence of two rivers considered sacred – the Black and Lies Beek rivers.
However, not everyone identifying with the Khoi and San was against the project. An association of Khoi and San who supported it was among the respondents in the case.
NM/jn/APA