A bitter legal battle is looming between the Khoisan community and the Western Cape government over a heritage site dating back to the 1500s.
Activists from the aboriginal group occupied the main hall of the Oude Molen Eco Village in Pinelands, Cape Town, on May 16.
They claim the site forms part of their ancestral Gorinaqua Kraal and have vowed not to leave the hall until the government hands back their land.
About 30 people lay on mattresses inside the dilapidated hall yesterday, while a big fire burned outside. They said they intended to divide the hall into an information centre and offices.
The provincial public works department made an urgent application to the Western Cape High Court to have the activists evicted this week.
The matter will be heard on Friday.
Tania Kleinhans-Cedras, spoke-swoman for the Gorinaqua Kraal committee, said the Khoisan were prepared to take the matter to the highest court in the land.
She said the site was sacred to them and they needed it to restore their dignity.
"We have used that site for sacred ceremonies for as long as we can remember and we intend to preserve it.
"It is where the land invasion by colonialists happened in 1510," said Kleinhans-Cedras.
"The court application does not deter us at all. We are prepared to fight the department all the way to the Constitutional Court.
"This is just the beginning for restorative justice. It will be tantamount to cultural genocide if the Khoisan people are evicted from the last remaining kraal in this province," she said.
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