A newly established initiative aimed at retaining visitors to Table Mountain National Park has recently received an R4 million boost from the provincial government.
Also read: Mountain bikers robbed in the Table Mountain National Park
Mireille Wenger, MEC Finance and Economic Opportunities, made the announcement as part of a collaboration between the provincial government, the City of Cape Town, SANParks, and other entities.
During an oversight visit on Thursday, JP Smith, Mayco member for Safety and Security, explained that concerns about the safety of hikers and visitors to the mountain were raised in August of last year.
He stated that in October, they recorded 36 incidents on the mountain and in the CBD, including robberies and chain-snatching of mountain users.
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‘We came together to start the Table Mountain Safety Forum which includes various stakeholders but also saw additional law-enforcement officers to the mountain to curb crime. We reinstated cameras and made use of the new students who had come out of college.’
While the students must now be redeployed to other CBDs throughout the city, he claims they made a significant impact with the previous incident more than two weeks ago.
‘We have also found that with the arrests of the main people perpetrating the crimes we found that there were less attacks while they were in custody.’
Wenger said the additional R4m funding would go towards extending the project over the next 18 months.
She claims that when international visitors choose a destination, their perception of safety plays a role.
She explained that the funds will be used to extend the hours of those patrolling the mountain in order to ensure that hikers visiting the various attractions at sunrise or sunset feel safe.
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‘The R4m funding will be for the next 18 months to extend the service so that locals and visitors can visit a natural wonder of the world and feel safe. It will be used to extend the hours of the officers to ensure that hikers who wish to visit the mountain for sunset or sunrise hikes are protected. It is important to note that the more tourists we have the more jobs are created.’
Smith stated that during a meeting with the US Consulate General, they were told that no tourists reported any such crime or needed to replace their stolen passport documents during the holiday season.
‘We are, however, still seeing incidents of street robberies and chain-snatching, or where tourists have their phones snatched from their hand while walking on the streets within the CBD. With our successful collaboration with the CID, two suspects were arrested in this regard, both in separate incidents, when alert CID officers were able to chase down and apprehend the thieves.’
Also read:
Friends of Table Mountain launches petition to stop crime in TMNP
Picture: Murray Swart