SANParks: Rebuild the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant and clean up the Devils Peak mess
 

Its finally taken SANParks 2 long indecisive years since 2021 Devils Peak fire to go on record to state that they will rebuild the Restaurant.

In this time other casualties of this fire like Mosterd's Mill have been beautifully rebuilt by volunteers.

As Capetonians, Conservation Groups and Friends of Rhodes Memorial we ask SANParks the following:

1. Rebuild the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant
The world famous Restaurant that brought all people together, providing a unique Cape Town experience is still in ruins

2. Clean up slopes of Devils Peak of Debris and weeds
Dead trees on the slopes of Devils Peak, weeds and a broken road is an embarrassment to Capetonians who love its beauty

3. Preserve the site from further damage
The walls of the Restaurant need to be protected by waterproof plastic ahead of the 3rd Cape winter

4. We need to hear a committed plan from SANParks
After 2 years of almost 0 communication we need to know if SANParks serious and not playing lip service to procrastinate rebuilding indefinitely.

To date no plan of action to date has been released, or public transparency of their tender process and conditions of their contractor.

There need to be a public advocacy forum linked to the SANParks to encourage the rebuilding of the Restaurant and Chapel facades as it was.

5. Introduce indigenous plants and trees to benefit our kids
 

Feedback from SANParks:

The Rhodes Memorial Restaurant site (on erf 46162) is gazetted as national park and is managed by SANParks.

Two years ago, the Rhodes Memorial Restaurant was gutted during the fires in the Park, and it was subsequently put out on a tender for rebuilding and operating, but there were too few respondents, which meant that the process needed to be started from scratch again. As a Schedule 3A public entity, SANParks is required to put out all commercial opportunities in national parks in an open tender process once approval has been obtained from National Treasury.

SANParks is in the final stages of finalising another tender and its viability regarding the rebuild, tenure, and return on investment. SANParks can communicate further once this process (including water connections, sewerage systems, road maintenance, and the revamping of the parking area) has been finalised locally and approved by our delegated authority and National Treasury.

The funds claimed from insurance after the fire damaged the buildings have been received and have not yet been spent but are earmarked for repairs and rebuilding which is required, particularly for the bulk services. The restaurant will be rebuilt, and strict measures will be put in place for whoever is allocated the tender to be mindful of its heritage status. In the meantime, SANParks and volunteers such as the Friends of Rhodes Memorial and SANParks Honorary Rangers have been cleaning up the site and adding temporary protection to the building site ahead of the winter rains.

Kind Regards

Lauren Howard Clayton

SANParks Regional Communications Manager - Cape Region