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29 April 2021

Media Release: Extension of a Call for Nomination of Candidates to Serve as Members of the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) Park Forum

The Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) is pleased to announce that the nomination of candidates to serve as members of the Table Mountain Park Forum closing date has been extended to Friday, 7 May 2021. According to TMNP Park Manager, Frans van Rooyen “the Park is currently taking applications from constituencies, representative of local communities, maintenance and infrastructure, permit systems, partnerships, safety and regulatory environment, and recreational users to join the Forum.”

He said the Park Forums are established to encourage the building of partnerships in support of the natural and cultural heritage conservation goals of SANParks. They are a means of providing a legitimate platform to communicate Park/SANParks/stakeholder issues, to ensure greater participation of stakeholders on matters of mutual relevance and to facilitate constructive interaction between the Parks and surrounding communities.

“It is expected that the Park Forum will allow for stakeholders to become informed about a range of views on issues which will ultimately result in better decisions that are more sensitive to stakeholder concerns and values,” said van Rooyen.

“The City of Cape Town encourages interested groups and the public to please make use of this opportunity to nominate candidates to serve on the Forum. The Forum plays a very important role and is key in bringing concerns, challenges, and solutions to the fore. The Forum represents communities and user groups, and it is intended to foster good relationships and collaboration between the management of Table Mountain National Park, stakeholders, and user groups. Table Mountain National Park is one of Cape Town's renowned natural assets and is invaluable to Capetonians' and the city's sense of place. The City is one of the stakeholders that will also serve on this Forum, and we are eager to contribute,” said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt.

The role of this park forum will be to:

  • Facilitate constructive interaction and engagement between the Park and stakeholders.
  • Facilitate the identification of strategic and other issues of mutual interest that could provide benefits to both the stakeholders and the Park.
  • Serve as a vehicle towards promoting strategic partnerships with stakeholders. Table Mountain National Park is one of the world's premier urban parks and a custodian of Cape Town's most precious cultural and natural assets. The park was established in 1998, thanks to the huge efforts of the citizens and leaders of Cape Town and South Africa. The vision of the Park is to be “A Park for All, Forever”. The people of Cape Town are the most important partners in realizing this vision and the Park is increasingly delivering benefits beyond its boundaries.

According to van Rooyen, constituencies who are selected will be making a commitment to a two-year term and will attend quarterly meetings.

Interested groups may nominate themselves or be nominated by others, by sending a motivation via email to Ms B. Dlangamandla to [email protected]
The nomination form can be downloaded via the SANParks website: Park Forum Application Form.

For more information visit https://www.sanparks.org/about/news/default.php?id=58204 or contact Ms Wendy Johnson on 021 422 1601 or send an email to [email protected].

Nominations must be in writing, completed in the accompanying prescribed form and contain the following information:

  • Full name, address and contact details of the nominating person or organisation;
  • Full name, identity number and contact details of the nominee;
  • Signed acceptance of the nomination by the nominee;
  • A motivation (one page only) for appointment of the nominee to the Park Forum;

NB: Please note that all candidates who had been duly nominated in the first round of nominations will remain part of the pool of candidates eligible for election and need not be re-nominated.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, 7 May 2021.

Issued By

South African National Parks (SANParks) Corporate Communications

Media Enquiries

Reynold “Rey” Thakhuli
SANParks Acting Head of Communications
Cell: 073 373 4999 or email: [email protected]