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20 March 2022

Dear <<First Name>>,

Despite an assassination attempt last Wednesday on Judge Goliath, she finally issued her judgement at 7pm the day before yesterday. And the outcome is unequivocally in our favour!!! The full judgement (all 79 pages of it) can be found here: https://obs.org.za/high-court-judgement-18-march-2022/

You can watch the 3 days of proceedings that led up to her judgement here:

Day 1 -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ7Y5Wq-JHQa3B8DX5nb7wOG79ifB7d05
Day 2 -   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ7Y5Wq-JHQa2KvSmqh67kC4BC76OiEEg
Day 3 -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ7Y5Wq-JHQbk3HxGfX-__nBWGbDcP8K-

Please join us tomorrow at 11am at the TRUP mound (opposite the entrance to the River Club) to celebrate this victory.

Joyfully yours,
Edwin Angless
OCA Comms

Join us on Human Rights Day!!!
Photograph by Edwin Angless

Judge Goliath grants an interdict to stop the River Club development

The Observatory Civic Association and the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council welcome Judge Goliath’s ruling in favour of our application to interdict the ongoing construction at the River Club site in Observatory. In her carefully crafted judgement, she noted the importance of First Nation Peoples’ deep and sacred linkage to the site through lineage, oral history, past history and narrratives, indigenous knowledge systems, living heritage and collective memory. She found that the fundamental rights to culture and heritage of Khoi and San peoples were under threat if the development was allowed to proceed. She agreed that our argument about the threat of irreparable and imminent harm to heritage was reasonable. 

Notably, Judge Goliath dismissed the idea that the developers’ claim to suffer financial loss were relevant. She concluded that the developers were fully aware of the risks they were taking in proceeding with the development when they knew the development was contested and subject to litigation...

SEE FULL STATEMENT HERE
“It is a game-changer for many environmental misadventures and great news for the nation as a whole.”
Stop right there! Judge Goliath grants our interdict against the River Club re-development

19 MAR 2022 — 

Incredible.

Amazing.

Day 56 after the hearing and Judge Goliath issued her findings - in no uncertain terms.  

She interdicted the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust (LLPT) from continuing with any construction at the River Club site until (a) there is meaningful engagement and consultation with all affected First Nations peoples (not just those who support the development); and (b) she directed that no construction may proceed until part B of the review is concluded and a final determination is made with respect to the validity of the rezoning and environmental authorisation....

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Photograph by Edwin Angless

We continue to campaign for human rights

18 MAR 2022 — 

Day 56. That’s 8 weeks since the end of the court proceedings which considered our application for an urgent interdict. We are still awaiting the Judge’s decision which we have been told is likely to be issued next week.

But as many of you will be aware, Judge Goliath was the target of a shooting last week. It’s a deeply sad day when a member of the judiciary becomes the target of harassment by faceless gunmen and we condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on Judge Goliath’s home which resulted in the wounding of a security guard. We wish her all strength and fortitude in her difficult task, particularly when facing such violence from nameless sources. Nevertheless, the wheels of justice must grind forward and we look forward to her decision, which we believe must recognise the irreparable harm to living heritage being inflicted by this development...

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Rivers as People – The Liesbeek River is Being Murdered While Judge Goliath Decides
Photograph by Edwin Angless

27 FEB 2022 — 

Day 37 after the end of the urgent interdict hearing. We are still awaiting the Judge’s decision.

The developers have now fenced off the remnant of the original course of the Liesbeek River and have started proceeding to infill it. The image above is devastation and devastating.

Internationally, there is a movement to recognise the rights of rivers as part of an Earth Justice Movement. In fact, New Zealand went as far as enacting a treaty in 2017 that recognized the Whanganui River as a legal person with fundamental rights. In the same year, an Indian court recognized the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers as “living entities” with fundamental rights, also allowing designated humans to represent the rivers in court...

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
“The forces that are wreaking havoc on the earth do not understand the power of solidarity for humanity and the earth”
Siv Ngesi's take on the fossil fuel industry in South Africa
Watch Politically Aweh's YouTube video here.
“All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” - Toni Morrison 
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Support the campaign by buying a "Make The Liesbeek Matter" T-shirt!
Look fabulous while advocating!

For Volunteering to sell the T-shirts. 

You can collect them after 12 noon any day at Ferdinandos Pizza 205 Lower Main Rd. We have created packs for you. You will need to sign them out. 

T-shirt sales are R200 . 

I am placing the Snapscan code here so people purchasing can directly see this image and use Snapscan or you can take the cash and either donate directly to our bank or drop the cash with Joy   +27 (72) 949-4600   In Trill road observatory.

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