The Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association will be appearing in court on the 28 May after they appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Monday to oppose the substitution of ownership of Blok properties to Prime Point Properties Ltd.

Blok Urban Developers sold its contentious property in 40 Lion Street to Prime Point Properties for more than R51 million. Blok served the application on the 6 May 2019, the first day of Ramadan and set the matter down for the court.

Chairperson of the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association (BOCKRA) Osman Shabodien said the sale of the property is another attempt for the Bo Kaap residents to become despondent.

“They want to weigh us down, but we won’t allow this. We will fight as long as we can to ensure that Bo-Kaap remains untouched,” he said.

Jacky Poking, the secretary of the Bo Kaap Civic and Rate Payers Association has been joined to the proceedings in her personal capacity and will be opposing the application.

“The applicant assumes that simply because the property has been sold, the applicant acquired all the rights in respect of the property.

“However, the application for the interdict has already been called in court, and it has reached the stage of litis contestatio (which is a civil proceeding in which controversial issues are established and submitted before a magistrate for examination of fact and judgment).

“There are, as a consequence, claims brought by Blok and claims which have been brought against Blok,” she said.

BLOK Properties is owned by Jacque Van Embden and Ronen Zekry who bought 38 and 40 Lion Street for R55 million rand after the City of Cape Town unlawfully, illegally and unconstitutionally cancelled the reversionary rights on the properties. The community submitted more than 500 objections to the City of Cape Town in respect of the development of the property in November 2017. Community protesting commenced in April 2018 and in June and subsequently November 2018, BLOK properties brought an interdict application against “all other persons causing obstructions, unlawfully conducting themselves or attempting to cause obstructions or unlawfully conduct themselves”.

The interdict application directly impacted on the peaceful protesting rights of the Bo-Kaap community, which caused the unlawful and unconstitutional violation of the protest rights of the Bo-Kaap community by BLOK, SAPS and Metro Police and the City of Cape Town traffic department on the 20 November 2018. The Bo Kaap community opposed the interdict application and it will be heard on 18 June 2019. BLOK has also joined 10 individual protestors to the proceedings as a form of legal chicanery to intimidate and divide the community.

Shabodien said the joinder and substitution applications have also been brought against a backdrop of what he called ‘civic capture’ by developers. Its alleged that certain community members have been cooperating with Blok to undermine the work of the Civic and other activist organisations.

Shabodien said at their next court appearance, the court will decide whether the transfer of property was done legally.