Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has dismissed the indigenous knowledge historian Tauriq Jenkins’s application for leave to appeal a finding about the true leadership of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC).
The application has to do with the consultations and permissions granted for the River Club Development in Cape Town, which the GKKITC, led by Jenkins and the Observatory Civic Association (OCA), are opposed to.
However, Jenkins has not given up and plans to carry on his battle to have the matter heard. Yesterday, Jenkins said: “We will be petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal.”
In a statement signed by Jenkins and Senior Chief Faraah September, the GKKITC said it was “eager to escalate the case to a higher court, where we are confident a simple inspection of the evidence will show our leader is the victim of a cynical attack by allies of billionaire developers”.
Two weeks ago, the court reserved judgment in the case which concerned Jenkins’s authority to oppose the controversial River Club development in the courts on behalf of the GKKITC.
Previously, in the ongoing legal battle over the River Club site, the Western Cape High Court set aside an earlier judgment by Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath, who had in 2022 interdicted construction at the site. The initial interdict came after the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) and GKKITC sought to halt the R4.6 billion development.
The high court later lifted Judge Goliath’s interim interdict. In May the SCA dismissed an appeal application from the Observatory Civic Association (OCA), which is trying to stop construction at the site pending a battle over development approvals.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za