By Mthuthuzeli Ntseku 
18h ago
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Cape Town – After a recent meeting with interim SANParks chief executive Luthando Dziba, Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) stakeholders hope their concerns about the management of the park will be taken seriously.
Friends of Table Mountain (FOTM) chairperson Andy Davies presented an eight-point plan that was drawn up and sent to Barbara Creecy, the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, last year.
The recovery plan includes recommendations on tackling crime in the park, the legality of the current permit, conservation and the Park Forum that was recently established.
Davies said it was a productive meeting and that he was encouraged by Dziba’s interest in the stakeholders’ concerns.
“We are looking forward to seeing some tangible improvements to the management of TMNP as committed to by Dr Dziba, and look forward to meeting with him again in three months to follow up on progress made in this regard.
“Our passion and therefore priority is the protection and preservation of TMNP for the benefit of all users and future generations. FOTM would like to reiterate that we want to be part of the solution to bring TMNP back to a pristine national park that we can all be proud of,” he said.
Parkscape founder Nicky Schmidt said that if SANParks wanted to resolve issues and gain public trust they should revert to the research and extensive public consultation that were done in the 1990s, which underpinned the formation of the park.
“TMNP must be managed differently from a rural park – as was originally agreed when the contract to manage the park was awarded to SANParks. The foundational research and consultation is referenced in the preamble to the Heads of Agreement between the City and SANParks.
“It talks about not just conservation, but also cultural heritage, aesthetic landscapes and recreation, and it recognises that a conservation-only mandate would prejudice the rights of a diverse community of people who use the mountain for multiple reasons,” she said.
SANParks was approached for comment but had failed to respond by the time of publication.
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