Another river to cross for land claimants

Rich neighbours cite ‘environment’ as battle for justice carries on

● Pausing on a rock in the middle of the Liesbeek River, Barry Ellman is a man astride two worlds.

On one side are the multimillion-rand mansions of Bishopscourt towering above the river bank. On the other, Ellman’s own shared property, which he can’t move onto almost 20 years after his family and 131 others won their land restitution case.

Unlike their neighbours, some of whose sprawling lawns reach the river’s floodplain, the claimants’ property behind him stands empty, as the latest in a long series of objections and legal challenges plays out.

Ellman must wonder what it takes to get a fair deal.

“It is difficult not to be a little bitter and angry,” he said during an inspection of part of the 12ha site, near the entrance to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Ellman and his fellow members of the Protea Village Communal Property Association are seething with frustration at a bid to stymie development of the site from which they were forcibly removed in the 1960s. Three stone cottages remain from that era.

Building on the new project — a residential estate of 86 homes — had been due to start later this year, but then a small group of unidentified residents launched an eleventhhour legal challenge to the environmental approval granted by the province.

The litigation, initiated last year, is spearheaded by the environmental group Friends of the Liesbeek on behalf of the residents’ group. The nonprofit organisation has also appealed against the development approval granted by the city’s municipal planning tribunal.

Ellman said this was a “bitter pill”, coming at the end of a lengthy approval process during which the objections and comments of residents of neighbouring areas had been addressed.

He said the claimants’ site development plan made allowance for environmental concerns — one-third of the site will be left as open space.

“It appears there’s a fair amount of insensitivity and entitlement that hides behind this thin veneer of environmental concern,” Ellman said. “How is it they assume the community is not environmentally protective?”

Another source involved in the development said many claimants feared a minority of residents were unfairly using the green credentials of Friends of the Liesbeek to push a dubious agenda.

Friends of the Liesbeek chair Nick Fordyce emphasised the environmental basis of the court application, which he said the organisation hoped would not unduly delay the claimants’ restorative justice.

“We want to make it abundantly clear that we are in no way opposed to this restitution claim,” he said. “We’re committed to finding a speedy resolution and we’re cognisant of the fact that there is a deep historical wrong to correct.”

Other developments along the river that Friends of the Liesbeek has raised red flags over include the Amazon headquarters development at the River Club near Salt River.

In its court submission the organisation says flaws in the Protea Village environmental approval process include a lack of objectivity in assessing the impact on water quality. It also highlights the potential impact on the wetland site.

“The applicant is seeking to uphold and protect the interests of the environment and of both present and future generations, and is not against a sustainable development that accommodates the return of the claimants to their land,” its affidavit says.

“Something the Liesbeek River and future generations have in common is that they cannot speak for themselves. The protection of their interests is entirely at the mercy of the present generation. The decision-makers in this matter have unduly compromised those interests.”

But the claimants insist their plans, which include a 4ha green belt and a buffer zone along the river and around a nearby natural spring, were drafted with such concerns in mind.

Development would progress in two phases, starting with the sale of some of the land to raise capital to build their own homes.

The land where the Kirstenbosch gardens stand now was once used to pasture Khoi Khoi herds. The original Protea Village is closely linked to slave history and the establishment of the botanic gardens.

“I was 17 when I moved from here — I’m now 70,” one of the claimants, Cecilia Bosman, said at the 2017 land handover ceremony hosted by the then mayor, Patricia de Lille. “We are very glad we’re coming back. It won’t be the same but we will at least for the last few years enjoy our lives.”

Six years later, Bosman is still waiting. Bishopscourt Residents Association vicepresident David Baker said his committee’s decision to welcome the community as neighbours was “overwhelmingly endorsed by the residents at our AGM. We are frustrated by the delays.”

Asked for comment, the city said it was “committed to redress and empowerment” and would provide the necessary infrastructure once all the legal hurdles to development had been cleared.