[Image: Outlook]
The once-pristine UNESCO World Heritage Site is now, according to furious conservationists, caught in a spiral of “alarming neglect.”
They say SANParks, the body meant to care for it, is asleep at the wheel, or worse, counting the profits while the park decays.
Blasting the agency for letting things slide, a Change.org petition spearheaded by Friends of Table Mountain and backed by civic heavyweights like Take Back Our Mountains, Love Our Trails, Table Mountain Watch, and the Table Mountain Bikers and Hikers Network, is demanding urgent intervention, Getaway reported.
They allege that SANParks is milking TMNP for millions while reinvesting only crumbs.
Despite the park raking in a whopping R430 million in revenue during 2024, campaigners claim a measly R107 million – just 24% – actually went back into the mountain. The rest, they say, was shuffled off to “other national parks or SANParks’ central operations,” leaving Table Mountain high and dry.
Among the issues raised in the petition is a laundry list of “how not to manage a national treasure”:
- Crime is spiking: muggings, poaching, bark stripping, and illegal camping have turned parts of the park into a no-go zone.
- Emergency trials and vital access roads have crumbled into impassable messes.
Beloved public sites like Hoerikwaggo Trail and Rhodes Memorial Tea Garden are falling apart, and don’t even ask about Tokai Manor House. - Invasive alien plants are swallowing up the fynbos.
- Signage is so bad, search-and-rescue missions are practically on speed dial.
Campaigners aren’t just moaning, they’ve got a plan, and are calling for boots on the ground: more field rangers, a beefed-up K9 unit, drone patrols, a 24/7 control room, and CCTV at danger zones.
“There’s a real sense that SANParks is profiting from Table Mountain while giving very little back,” reads a statement from the campaign. “This iconic mountain deserves better. So do the people who use and protect it.”
And while they’re at it, they want financial transparency and a rethink of those permit fees, because frankly, the current price tag doesn’t match the sorry state of things.
Even the Western Cape’s Department of Social Development has admitted there’s trouble on the slopes, noting rising safety concerns linked to illegal camping and youth crime. But locals say it’s not the province’s mountain to fix alone. SANParks needs to show up, step in, and take responsibility.
At the very least, campaigners want the SANParks CEO to stop treating Table Mountain like an ATM and start treating it like the irreplaceable natural wonder it is. Amen to that.
[Source: Getaway]