For the Khoi and San people – 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. A century and a half later, it was where Dutch settlers launched a campaign of land dispossession.
Today, the same piece of land is again the scene of conflict, this time over a development where construction is due to begin this month and which will eventually be home to a new 70,000-square-metre African headquarters for US 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."
The 15-hectare riverside area was previously home to a golf driving range and popular bar, with a small blue plaque the only indication of the site's historical...