Crime has been a continuing and increasing problem in Table Mountain National Park since 2004 when incidents started to peak, and concerns about making the Park safe for the public were raised. Concern was expressed by the Mountain Club of South Africa in 2007 when it noted the rise in incidents, and expressed concern that SANParks had failed to be honest about the increasing number of incidents, and areas where incidents occurred.
The buffer zone areas (wildland urban interfaces) of Table Mountain National Park have proved to be increasingly unsafe over many years, (click “Table Mountain” and “crime” for current stats) with several murders, multiple stabbings and rapes, and many muggings occurring. With with a limited ranger contingent (including a K9 unit) to patrol the 221 sq km Park, SANParks has historically been unable – or unwilling – to adequately police the Park. Focus tends to have been placed on only some of the known hotspots, yet equally, while that focus is noticeable in summer i.e. the tourist months, it drops off over the winter months. The Mountain Club of South Africa has previously also expressed concerns about incidents that occur higher up the mountain.
The presence of vagrants and communities living within the Park, which SANParks has failed to manage, does not help; nor does the failure to maintain vigilance for drug and alcohol usage in obvious places, such as picnic and other popular sites.
Volunteer patrols throughout the Park repeatedly reveal repeated signs of human habitation, drug and alcohol use – along with environmental crime such as plant and flower poaching and barkstripping. Walkers in multiple areas regularly report suspicious sightings.
Despite the introduction of Table Mountain National Park’s SEAM team in December 2021 and the creation of a TMNP Ops Room, SANParks’ response to crime has remained limited and appears not to be based on risk assessment, and may be said to be reactive rather than proactive.
The Parkscape Community Safety Model
In response to SANParks’ failure to deal with crime and user safety in the Park effectively, Parkscape developed its own Parkscape Community Safety Model – a collaborative model for community safety and environmental crime. The Parkscape Community Safety Model is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International license
Per the licensing (see link above), the model is available for sharing and adapting – but not for commercial purposes – provided credit is given to Parkscape, and Parkscape is advised where any changes have been made.
Anyone wishing to discuss the Parkscape Community Safety Model is welcome to contact Parkscape via the “general” link on our Contacts page.
