24 August 2007
Cape Town hunts for way to keep mountain safe
- iol
By Caryn Dolley
The City of Cape Town is considering providing Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) with R1,34-million annually for four years to improve security.
And TMNP says it will continue asking for this funding until it is granted.
On Thursday, out of desperation to find solutions to curb mountain muggings, the park staff were in back-to-back meetings.
After one of the meetings the SA Police Service (SAPS) also voiced its concern and said since the beginning of the year 18 incidents were reported at the nine police stations covering Table Mountain - nearly double the figure supplied by TMNP.
Marian Nieuwoudt, mayoral committee member for planning and environment, said the committee was considering providing additional funds for more CCTV cameras.
"If approved it will be done on a project basis which will allow the city to monitor the spending," she said.
Nieuwoudt said the city was concerned about the safety of residents and visitors to the mountain and nature reserves and acknowledged attacks had a "negative impact on the local economy".
Paddy Gordon, a TMNP area manager, said it needed more money to improve security adequately.
"The funding is still not settled but we'll continue with our existing plan (asking for R5,4-million in total from the city)," he said.
Gordon said during a meeting with the SAPS a joint operations centre on the mountain had been discussed.
"There are nine different police stations dealing with the mountain so it can get very confusing. People may not know which one to go to and two stations may end up working on the same case. This centre will help with that."
He said one of the main obstacles when a mugging occurred was the time it took a victim to report it.
"Usually their cellphone is stolen so a lot of time lapses before they get the message out. They can report the crime at this centre on the mountain."
Police spokesperson Novella Potelwa said the police were concerned about the attacks and had welcomed a meeting with TMNP.
Potelwa agreed with Gordon that a security nodal centre on the mountain would help visitors and be a co-ordination point for TMNP and SAPS.
She said police would also look in detail at the resources available to curb muggings to see what was needed.
Another issue discussed at the meeting was developing a system to supply visitors with information when arriving at the mountain and to have increased communication with them.
Sources: iol
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