Urgent application from Clairwood residents challenges proposed logistics park at Durban High Court
Clairwood residents gathered in large numbers outside the Durban High Court on Friday to serve an urgent application against the eThekwini Municipality.
They are opposing a proposed logistics park, with many wearing red T-shirts proclaiming, “Hands off Clairwood, it is our home and we are prepared to die for our beloved Clairwood”, to demonstrate their resolve.
The Clairwood Ratepayers Residents Association is hopeful the court can intercede in saving their community from being demolished.
The ratepayers are represented by the Durban Legal Resource Centre, comprising Kiara Govender, Aaron Tifflin, and Anneline Turpin, Senior Counsel Glen Goddard, and Muhammed Suleman.
Outside the court, residents said they were apprised of the development and where it will take place in the suburb, but they believe that the new plans will not allow residents to coexist with trucks and warehousing establishments.
In September 2025, the eThekwini Municipality council adopted a new Development Facilitation Table for a new zone, known as a special zone: Clairwood Logistics Park, sparking concerns over local traffic and environmental impacts.
The Clairwood Logistics Park and the adoption of a master plan were brought to the eThekwini council.
The municipality stated that the proposed new special zone, together with the Clairwood Master Plan, will assist the decision-maker when applications for Clairwood are lodged for consideration by the municipality.
This is in line with a council decision in 2014, which adopted the Local Area Plan, which directed that Clairwood should become a logistics hub.
The municipality stated that Clairwood is strategically positioned to evolve into a logistics park.
The municipality stated that constraints for its evolving into a logistics park include sites being too small for industrial use or logistics use, blocks being too small, roads being too narrow to accommodate logistics traffic, and a mix of residential and incompatible uses currently existing.
The metro added that for a logistics park to be created, the existing Clairwood would have to be redesigned.
According to the report, all places of worship, cemeteries, heritage buildings, and an underground gas pipeline have been considered in the report.
