The short notice given for a seemingly impromptu stakeholder engagement meeting between South African National Parks (SANParks) had various representatives of interest and user groups of Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) crying foul last week.
With invitations sent out a day before the engagement planned for Thursday 30 March, those that were able to make it to the TMNP Tokai New Office Building at 11:30 were quick to note their dissatisfaction, not only at the short notice but also because a number of stakeholders had not been invited.
Welcoming delegates to the session, Pam Yako, chair of the SANParks Board, apologised upfront for the late notice.
“Somehow the train that was delivering it (invitations) from Kloof to Tokai got delayed. It is not a sign of things to come, it probably represents our past more than our future,” said Yako.
She explained that the meeting was an opportunity to hear from their stakeholders.
“We believe that by engaging with them proactively and transparently, we can build stronger relationships and trust, identify new opportunities and risks, and create shared value for all.”
Yako said the purpose of the session was also to introduce the new TMNP Park Manager, Megan Taplin.
Backed by 22 years of working in the conservation sector, Taplin started her new role at TMNP on Monday 9 January. She said she had spent the first three months going around the park, getting to know the different areas, getting to know the staff that worked there and getting to meet some of the stakeholders and hear about some of the issues.
“I’m still busy with that process. What I’ve seen so far is that there’s been a wide range of issues. There are many different types of stakeholders and people who have an interest in the many different needs and wants. So that is quite a process to try and balance. And I just like to ask for a bit of time to also get my hands into everything and to understand, not just from an overview, but also the details of all the different issues.”
Taplin said while it seemed that everyone thought that their issues were the most urgent to address, she had the task of having to balance this with SANPark’s core mandate: conservation.
“That’s why we’re here. That’s why we have a World Heritage site, that’s why we have a new Seventh Wonder of the World, because of the conservation area. That is why it is so important to protect that.”
Listing the “big issues”, Taplin first touched on safety and security.
“We have put things in place already. Like for example, our special operations teams. We also work with other partners; we work with neighbourhood watches, we work with Saps, we work with City law enforcement, and we work with community safety groups to try and tackle the issues together. But there are definitely ways in which we can improve and ways that we can work better together.”
Another challenge is tourism infrastructure maintenance.
“We’ve got something like 800 kilometres of trails in this park and they are just the most impacted of trails in all of SANParks. I would say every day there are people on the trails, even every night I see the lights going up Lion’s Head… We need to look at ways that we can fast-track better maintenance or get more funding in for maintenance.”
Touching on baboon management, Taplin referred to The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT), consisting of South African National Parks (SANParks), CapeNature and the City of Cape Town, and the Proposed Baboon Strategic Management Plan (CPBSMP) which closed for public comment on Friday 31 March.
With SANParks responsible for a huge marine protected area around the entire Peninsula. Robben Island, marine management is another critical issue, as is fire.
“Fynbos is a fire driven-system but also we are on the urban edge so people need their property protected and their lives protected.”
Taplin said community benefits were “a big thing to look at”. She said later this year, SANParks would be doing an enterprise development roadshow for SMMEs on how they can get involved with the business of the park.
“So we look forward to doing that and seeing how we can get easier participation from our communities.”
Taplin said she was blown away by how many volunteers there were willing to give of their time and resources to the park.
“Almost all of the user groups have got volunteer arms to them that are helping us to maintain trails and fix things and make things better. So that is something which we must use to both our advantages,” she said.
During the question-and-answer session, Stephen Floyd, a former TMNP forum chair, captured the general sentiment in the room best when he said that he liked what he was hearing.
However, he said, three cycles of forums had fallen apart in the past.
“There were ministerial subcommittees, there were forums. Three times it has fallen apart when people have put hundreds of hours into those initiatives. I ask us to stand back, we ask you to stand back in terms of transparency and engaging on some of the thorny issues which we have documented too so that if we are going to do this again, we can learn and really make this work.”
Floyd said they wanted Taplin and her team to have immense courage and determination.
“So there is vision but there is delivery. We do believe from the outside, and we are all over this mountain every day, just solid management: delivery, funds, budget, do it. We are here to help you but that is fundamental.”
Reflecting on what had been said during the session, Yako said that she had made five pages of notes, and while she would not be commenting on the issues raised during the engagement at this time, she promised to back in Tokai in June for another stakeholder engagement.
