An attempt today by the Cape Town Environmental Protection Association to seek an urgent court interdict to stop the partial demolition of the existing Green Point stadium has failed.

The CEPA will file a new application on Monday.
The City of Cape Town opposed the application for the interdict. Papers were only served after 11h00 today for a High Court hearing at 15h00.  The City said this was unreasonably short notice and CEPA’s legal team agreed.

CEPA’s attempt to obtain an interdict follows their earlier court application for a review of various approval processes required for the stadium construction. That matter is still pending.

Demolition of the existing stadium will continue tomorrow, but no work will be done on Sunday.  By early today 75% of the demolition had been completed. A portion of the grandstand will be retained. Once the demolition work is complete, the site will be used as a construction yard for the new 68 000 seater multi-purpose stadium.

The demolition of the stadium is not legally linked to the construction of the new stadium.  The City Council gave two separate approvals and these approvals have not been challenged.   The City has asked the CEPA for its membership list in order to see whom they represent, but has not received this.

The City challenged the allegation that CEPA had only become aware of the demolition over the Easter weekend as permission had been given in January and had been widely reported in the media.   If any legal action succeeded in halting construction of the new stadium, it would mean an estimated R500 million in losses.

Some of the R10 billion investment in infrastructure by the three spheres of government and several billions of Rands in private sector investment linked to hosting a World Cup semi-final would also be jeopardised.

CEPA alleged that it had obtained undertakings from the City to the effect that no “irreversible work” would be done on either the new stadium site or the remainder of the common. The City did not give any such undertakings. It is proceeding with excavation and lateral support, bulk service diversion and the pouring of the foundations in terms of provisional authorisation from the building plans department of the City.