Save the Liesbeek River and Heritage Site

My name is Mary and I live in Seattle Washington, USA. I am raising money to help pay for the legal expenses incurred by the campaign, Make the Liesbeek Matter, in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa. It is a community of my friends and former neighbors. I lived in this neighborhood for over a year and love the beauty of the river and wetlands, and regularly walked in this important heritage area.

The Observatory Civic Association, along with Indigenous Khoi and San peoples, environmental NGOs, and other social justice organizations, campaigned very hard against commercial development on a flood plain sacred to indigenous people and of high environmental sensitivity in urban Cape Town. The development will house Amazon’s African headquarters on this sacred and sensitive site and was opposed by the City’s own environmental professionals on the grounds of flooding risks, biodiversity harms and loss of climate resilience. And although it was deemed unlawful by the competent heritage authority for the province, the City and Provincial authorities approved the development.

Despite this very discouraging judgement and loss for the community, the legal fees to fight this battle over the past 3 years are high. We are raising funds to help with these legal costs. We appreciate your support and generosity.

For more information, go to: https://www.liesbeek.org and a video describing the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkoR0RILMJE

Please help with the resistance to this unnecessary and destructive development. Sign the Petition here: https://tinyurl.com/e9mj8dff