A group of five hikers were mugged coming down Steenberg Plateau on the Silvermine hiking trail on Saturday morning, reports Cape {town} Etc.
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According to non-profit organisation Friends of Table Mountain, the group was held up by four ‘teens/youngsters’ with a gun and broken bottles approximately 100 metres from the start of the trail, near Boyes Drive, above Lakeside.
‘They took a Garmin watch and another hiker’s (who came across the scene) belongings and ran off into the bush,’ said the organisation in a Facebook post.
Fellow non-profit organisation Take Back Our Mountains reported that SAPS has made an arrest in connection with the robbery.
This incident follows almost a week after two hikers were robbed by four males between the ages of 18 and 25 while ascending Deer Park toward Tafelberg Road before 7am last week Sunday.
The two incidents form part of a spate of recent muggings, break-ins and vehicle thefts, including that of US hiker Brook Cheuvront who was found dead on a hiking trail on Devils Peak, within the Table Mountain National Park that have subsequently sparked safety concerns both locally and internationally.
At the time, however, Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) rebutted that the recent reports of escalating criminal activity on the mountain were speculative and misleading.
The park also highlighted that, according to SANPark’s data, crime reports decreased from 16 and 31 incidents in late 2023 to six in July 2024 and three in August 2024.
Echoing the concern for safety in TMNP, RMB Ultra-trail Cape Town race director Stuart McConnachie last month told Lester Kiewit that escalating crime reports are causing top international athletes to reconsider entering the premier annual running event set to take place in November.
‘There are elite and international runners looking to come to Cape Town for this race, but there are natural safety concerns,’ says McConnachie.
‘It is a concern, and what we don’t want to see is the same scenario as last year. If we do, then it will be a case of pack up and stop because then it just shows that this wasn’t something that just happened as an isolated and unfortunate incident, but there’s a constant thing that’s going on, and no one seems to be doing anything about it.’
At least three competitors and a trail marshal were mugged during the event in November last year. A week earlier, a British long-distance runner training for the event withdrew after he was assaulted and robbed on Table Mountain road.
While acknowledging that there has been increased maintenance, patrols and security cameras in various parts of TMNP, McConnachie said much more still needs to be done.
‘What we want to see is a consistent plan being activated so when November rolls around, we don’t see an occurrence where over a three-month period there are upwards of 50 muggings across an area of the mountain… that just raises the fear in everyone in a place where we should ultimately be going to get away from these things.’
With over 2 800 runners and their companions, the RMB Ultra-trail Cape Town brings an estimated R50 million to the economy, reported EWN.
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Picture: Friends of Table Mountain / Facebook
