A partnership approach helped curb crime on the mountain during the festive season, say stakeholders, and fires were limited too.

According to SANParks head of communications, JP Louw, causes of the five fires in December include arson, vagrants and religious groups.

Mr Louw says the extent of vegetation loss remains undetermined as the fire season is ongoing.

“As we are still in the fire season we have not finalised the mapping of all the fires. This will only be done post fire season. Fynbos is adapted to a fire regime. Post fire recovery is rapid with a succession of plant species. Some species start reshooting within weeks of the fire,” he said.

SANParks employed a combination of ground teams, fire tankers, and trucks to combat fires, according to Mr Louw, and in serious cases aerial resources including choppers and bombers.

“Fire management along the urban wildland interface is always challenging. We aim to contain fires in the first 90 minutes from callout and currently have a success rate of more than 80%.

“There have been no emergency evacuations of residential areas. There were evacuation of tourists from the upper cable station during the structure fire as well as recently when we had the Table Mountain Front Face Fire when it was necessary to evacuate hikers from the Platteklip Trail.”

Take Back Our Mountains founder, Taahir Osman, concurred with Mr Louw about the origins of fires.

“Vagrants and sometimes religious groups are responsible for these fires but they were put out very quickly. The religious groups I believe are unauthorised gatherings and they even contribute to noise pollution. Table Mountain needs constant policing and even if you for example remove these groups, there will be other groups as these areas are open to the public,” Mr Osman said.

Mr Louw confirmed a noticeable decrease in crime on Table Mountain’s Atlantic seaboard hotspots during the holiday season.

“In the main we apply a partnership approach with other state actors and civic bodies. We reinforce our personnel, use our successful K9 dog unit, technology and aerial support. We will sustain what has proven to be successful interventions to fight crime. These have mainly been successful because of the collaborations and partnership approach we adopted with other law enforcement agencies as well as civic groups.”

He adds that the Volunteer Safety System (VSS) is an operation that includes civil society groups to work towards overall safety.

“This body is a coordinated, collaborative, and accountable mechanism that ensures civil society’s contributions are embedded in the national park’s overall safety and security strategy and approach. We appeal to all other civil society groups who appreciate our inclusive approach to conservation management to join the VSS where they can add greater and impactful value,” Mr Louw said.

Mr Osman says there is still crime but that it has noticeably decreased over the festive season as communication between crime fighting organisations has increased.

“In Fresnaye, upper Rhine Road close to the Kramat, there is a specific person robbing people and we have a description of this person. We have received a few reports mentioning him this past two months. We can see there is more law enforcement and we are thankful for their presence in making the mountains safer,” Mr Osman said.

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