Safety concerns grow following more attacks on Table Mountain
|Published
Zanozuko Booi (left) and Sabatha Matiwane, come down Table Mountain after hiking Platteklip Gorge. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)
Cape Town - Lobby group, Friends of Table Mountain (FOTM) says SANParks has failed to address safety and security concerns in the park.
This after two recreational joggers were attacked last week. One of the joggers was assaulted with a metal bar, while his friend was left with deep stab wounds to his upper body.
FOTM chairperson Andy Davies said crime has been an ongoing issue in the park since the mid-2000s with numerous attempts made to address it.
“The issue isn’t whether crime has increased. The issue is SANParks is not doing enough to correct an ongoing problem. Minister Barbara Creecy set up task teams in March last year to address these issues and nothing has come of it, which is very disappointing and frustrating for the public representatives. In addition, SANParks is blocking attempts by the public to try to help address the problem,” Davies said.
FOTM is also demanding answers on what it said was an “increased and illegal mountain usage” by a number of groups, inefficient signage and plans to address litter and graffiti in the park.
Davies said numerous solutions had been put forward over the years. He said an initiative to tackle hot spots was created by stakeholders and was submitted to SANParks in 2019.
“It was the sort of initiative that SANParks should have embraced, but after initial positivity they just stalled. Attempts to take the project further were stonewalled, and the stakeholders have told us that they don’t believe SANParks ever had any intent of signing an agreement.”
Davies said this raised serious questions about SANParks’ real intent. He claimed SANParks was more concerned about its reputation with international visitors than the general Cape Town public’s safety. He said crime continued irrespective of season and SANParks needed to focus on sustainable practical solutions and not public relations exercises.
SANParks spokesperson Reynold Thakuli said Table Mountain National Park had “consistently and diligently” responded to all the questions asked by the group even if the responses were not always to their satisfaction.
Thakuli said continuous meetings were held with Davies and other members to deal with some of the issues.
He said the park had 116 field rangers tasked to address issues related to conservation, tourism and visitor safety.
Thakuli added that crime fighting initiatives were planned and executed by the park and with other law enforcement agencies, and at no stage would they stonewall any initiative that would assist in their task.
“The suggestion for a hotline is a park initiative and is still in our plans, and will come to fruition when our operations centre to fight crime is launched,” he said.
Cape Argus