Amazon is facing resistance from South African heritage groups as the retail juggernaut intends to build a new headquarters on a historical battleground site.
Khoi and San heritage groups and local civic associations have spoken out against the headquarters construction in Cape Town because the site Amazon is building on was the battleground between a group of Khoi and the Portuguese in 1510. They argue that the site should instead be declared a World Heritage Site to commemorate its history, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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“Would Jeff Bezos go into a Native American territory and decide to completely devastate its most sacred terrain to put up an Amazon headquarters?” said Tauriq Jenkins, one of the lead opposers. “It makes a Disneyland of our heritage.”
The Amazon headquarters will include office space, housing, running and cycling tracks, and roughly 20 acres of green park space open to the public. The company is expected to use the new headquarters as a foot in the door in order to grow its network on the continent.
The Cape Town administration has supported the construction of the new site, saying it will turn previously private land into publicly accessible green space and will bring much-needed jobs and investment to the city.
“[The development] will transform the property from an isolated site with minimal foot traffic to a publicly accessible precinct,” said Dan Plato, the executive mayor of Cape Town. “Cape Town’s ability to attract and host employers and wealth-generators of Amazon’s caliber not only leads to direct employment and economic opportunities but also improves the city’s profile as a destination for international investment.”
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This is not the first real estate project from Amazon to be met with backlash. In 2019, lawmakers and citizens protested the planned New York City campus announced by the retail giant. The project was scrapped after public criticism became too great, and the real estate project was moved to Virginia instead.
Amazon did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
