#SaveTableMountain - We demand accountability for our natural wonder 

Table Mountain, Cape Town’s iconic UNESCO world heritage site and New7Wonder of Nature, is in a state of alarming decline. Despite generating significant revenue, SANParks is severely under-resourcing and mismanaging Table Mountain National Park (TMNP), leading to widespread deterioration and neglect. 

Join our urgent call for comprehensive action to restore and protect this irreplaceable natural asset for current and future generations. As concerned mountain users and community members, we believe it's our right and responsibility to demand accountability and action.

This campaign is driven by Friends of Table Mountain and supported by Take Back Our Mountains, Love Our Trails, Table Mountain Watch, Table Mountain Bikers and Hikers Network.

The problem: Years of mismanagement and neglect

TMNP is plagued by critical issues directly attributable to SANParks' poor management and underfunding. These problems threaten the park's ecological integrity, visitor safety and tourism potential. Problems facing TMNP include: 

• Persistent high crime rates: Frequent muggings, bark stripping, forest degradation, poaching and fires linked to illegal overnighting and religious gatherings are damaging the park's reputation and deterring visitors. Foreign consulates have even raised safety concerns for their nationals.
• Failure of conservation mandate: Invasive alien vegetation is growing unchecked, threatening the park's unique biodiversity.
• Decaying infrastructure: Trails are overgrown or washed away, and jeep tracks, vital for fire, security and rescue vehicle access, are neglected.
• Insufficient signage: A lack of adequate signage leads to visitors getting lost, which frequently necessitates rescue operations.
• Runaway fires: Uncontrolled fires, often ignited by illegal overnighters and religious gatherings, cause vast and too frequent damage to the park's fauna and flora. These out-of-control fires destroy critical infrastructure and place users and private property at risk. SANParks’ mandate includes regular prescribed burns for fynbos survival, without the chaos, expense and damage caused by uncontrolled fires. 
• Decay of tourism infrastructure: Significant investment has been squandered with key tourism opportunities like the Hoerikwaggo Trail, Rhodes Memorial Tea Garden, Orange Kloof Tented Camp, Lister’s Tearoom and the Tokai Manor House lying in ruin. Many of these were popular and much-loved properties catering to locals and tourists. They should be restored to the thriving businesses they once were, generating an income for TMNP and creating much-needed jobs.

In 2024, TMNP generated R430 million in income, but SANParks spent only R107 million (24%) of that on TMNP.  The other 76% was sent to other parks and into SANParks’ corporate coffers. This disparity is unacceptable and unsustainable, especially as TMNP is in such disarray. While volunteer groups and the City of Cape Town are stepping in to provide essential services, SANParks continues to profit from TMNP without fulfilling its mandate.

As concerned citizens and users of Table Mountain National Park, we demand the following from SANParks:

• Acknowledgement and commitment: Public acknowledgement from the CEO of SANParks that TMNP requires a significantly larger operational budget and a clear plan to achieve this increase. While we recognize TMNP's role in subsidising less profitable parks, this cannot be at the expense of our iconic mountain.
• Transparent resourcing: An independent and transparent needs analysis for TMNP's resourcing to inform and support the proposed operational budget review.
• Enhanced safety and security: Employing a qualified and experienced safety and security management team to implement cost-effective solutions to combat the crime plague on TMNP. These include: 
  - Sufficiently trained security personnel to address muggings, marine poaching, bark stripping and illegal overnighting.
  - An effective 24/7 control centre for reporting issues.
  - Cameras at trailheads and key hotspots.
  - Expansion of the K9 dog unit and proactive use of it. 
  - Effective use of drones to apprehend criminals and locate illegal overnighters and fires.
  - Repair of derelict fencing in crime hotspots and review of additional fencing needs.
• Adequate field ranger presence: Recruitment of an adequate number of field rangers who are visibly engaged in policing illegal overnighters and religious gatherings, discouraging criminals, repairing and clearing trails and removing alien invasive vegetation during all daylight hours. SANParks need to implement measurement tools to demonstrate ranger effectiveness.
• Infrastructure review and investment: A full and transparent review, budget allocation and implementation plan for signage on all official trails, as well as proactive maintenance of all official trails and jeep tracks on TMNP.
• Proactive ecological management: Increasing manpower to implement an effective and proactive ecological burn programme, including the re-establishment and effective use of historical fire breaks. Implementation of an effective alien invasive eradication program by SANParks on TMNP that will put a stop to the spread of alien invasives. 
• Unlock tourism potential: Free up decayed infrastructure (e.g., Rhodes Memorial Tea Garden, Orange Kloof Tented Camp, Lister’s Tearoom and the Tokai Manor Precinct) for private enterprise development to leverage TMNP's incredible tourism potential.
• Fair permit fees: A commitment that activity and event permits are only charged when SANParks provides tangible value to the user, not simply to profiteer from user activity without contributing.

Join us in demanding a brighter future for Table Mountain. Your signature can make a difference! Sign this petition and share it widely to #SaveTableMountain

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