The civil society group, Liesbeek Action Campaign (LAC), fighting the R4.5bn development at the River Club site in Observatory, has parted ways with its lawyers, Cullinan and Associates.

IoL reports that the campaign has managed to raise under R1m in crowdfunding which they say has been used for legal fees, as their battle to stop the developers of the River Club into turning the site into Amazon’s African headquarters wages on.

The group secured a Western Cape High Court order by Judge Patricia Goliath in March, interdicting the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) from continued construction work.

However, they returned to court months later to file contempt of court papers after the discovery of ongoing construction.

This has resulted in subsequent litigation by the Goringhaicona tribe, who filed papers to have Cullinan removed as their legal representation and to have Tim Dunn come on record as their attorney.

The group further sought to withdraw their support from the litigation and instead sided with the First Nations Collective in their support of the River Club development.

LAC described the court action as an ambush.

LLPT said the construction work will continue ‘lawfully’ with their appeal against Goliath’s order being heard on 11 and 12 October along with the Goringhaicona’s application to withdraw from litigation.

Full IoL report