By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - For the Khoi and San - South Africa's first inhabitants - a verdant patch of land in Cape Town embodies victory.
For the Khoi and San South Africa’s first inhabitants a verdant patch of land in Cape Town embodies victory and tragedy.
The two communities drove back cattle-raiding Portuguese soldiers there in 1510. But, a century and a half later, this was where Dutch settlers launched a campaign of land dispossession.
Today it is again the scene of another conflict, this time over a development where construction is due to begin this month and where there will eventually be a new 70,000-square-metre Africa headquarters for United States retail giant Amazon.
“This is where land was first stolen,” said Tauriq Jenkins, of the Goringhaicona Khoena Council, a Khoi traditional group opposed to the project. “We want a World Heritage Site. We do not want 150,000 tonnes of concrete.”
Fight against Cape Town development, which includes Amazon's new headquarters, turns nasty mybroadband.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mybroadband.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.