Amazon is setting up its African HQ in Cape Town, a project with the promise of thousands of jobs in a country where unemployment is cripplingly high. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
People protesting against the Amazon building on a particular site, in Cape Town, on June 16, 2021. Photographer: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
Felix Njini and Loni Prinsloo – 20 March 2022
South Africa’s High Court has temporarily halted construction of Amazon.com Inc.’s planned new Africa headquarters in Cape Town and ordered the company to consult with indigenous people who say the site is sacred land.
Building work should cease immediately and developer Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust must undertake “meaningful engagement and consultation” with members of the Khoisan people, the original inhabitants of the land, the court said in a March 18 ruling…