News

The South African National Parks (SANParks) conducted a three-day assessment of the successful implementation of its festive season readiness plan at Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). This follows the earlier release of the SANParks Safety and Security Plan at the 21 functional national parks.

A major highlight was joint operations conducted with volunteers organized under the umbrella of the Volunteer Safety Services (VSS). This initiative is a formal collaboration between TMNP and a group of civil society organisations involved in activities such as safety and security, hiking, guiding, mountain biking and related activities. This partnership expands the successful collaboration underway with the South African Police Service and City of Cape Town.

In addition to reporting on potential security threats, VSS also assist with monitoring activities that harm the conservation efforts of the park such as illegal dwellings, littering and the like. They also report crime incidents in the park which assist in drawing up intelligence to plan targeted crime fighting operations and interventions.

Overall, statistics show a declining trend in crime incidents dropping to 62% from the previous year. So far in December, we have had 6 reported incidents including three of robbery, 1 attempted robbery, theft out of a motor vehicle and pickpocketing. An operation in Signal Hill led to the arrest of two pick pocketers and the other groups abandoned their efforts when they saw law enforcement.

The three-day assessment included aerial surveillance of parts of the national park by one of SANParks’ helicopters. The helicopter, brought down from Kruger National Park, will bolster ranger efforts in responding to fires or any security threats in this 25 000-hectare urban and open access national park.

The assessment also included a demonstration of the capabilities of rangers and the canine unit.

SANParks has adopted a partnership approach to conservation management which involves active community participation and ownership.

A fire safety assessment was also done considering the challenges related to fire incidents. TMNP will be opening the Klaasjagersberg seasonal fire standby two weeks early to better cover the Southern and Central Sections of the park.  This team has also been increased in size and resources based on last fire seasons experiences. All three standby teams of Kloofnek, Newlands and Klaasjagersberg will support each other and improve capacity to respond to multiple fires simultaneously which is concerningly becoming more frequent.