Amazon's South African Headquarters Project Splits Khoisan Groups

The Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) has filed an interdict against Amazon's ongoing construction development in Cape Town along the Liesbeek River where the online retail giant intends to build its African headquarters. This is is in opposition to the The First Nations Collective (FNC), a fellow group of Khoisan members, who support the construction initiative.

"We argue that the consultation process was flawed from the beginning, and the fact that the GKKITC did not participate in that specific consultation did not mean that they waived their right to any consultation," Hercules Wessels, senior associate at Cullinan and Associates, one of the attorneys representing the GKKITC, said.

Meanwhile, the FNC said their support for the project was due to the "world-class facilities where the First Nations will be empowered". These facilities include an indigenous garden to grow traditional medicinal plants, an amphitheatre where the group can perform traditional song and dance, and a cultural media centre.

The near U.S.$300 million development saw over 56,000 people sign a petition opposing its development. Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLTP), who said the project would create jobs, attract foreign investment and improve Cape Town's quality of life, is the company overseeing construction.

The area, at the confluence of two rivers, is the ancestral home to the earliest Khoi and San inhabitants in Southern Africa. It carries cosmological, spiritual and environmental significance to these indigenous groups. Following the victory against the Portuguese, the Khoi later battled against the Dutch in 1659. After the Dutch prevailed, it is where colonial administrator Jan Van Riebeek launched a campaign of land dispossession, an event that researchers and activist say laid the bedrock for what would become apartheid white minority rule years later.