Civic groups withdraw from Visitor Safety Services agreement with SANParks

Founding members of the Visitor Safety Services (VSS) initiative have formally withdrawn from their Memorandum of Understanding with SANParks and Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).

This decision comes amid what Friends of Table Mountain have reported as one of the worst years on record for contact crimes in Table Mountain National Park.

The VSS framework, established after a proposal to senior SANParks executives in December 2023, aimed to mobilise civil society to support TMNP in addressing growing safety concerns in the park.

According to a statement, the founding members, all volunteers from organisations such as Love Our Trails, Table Mountain Watch, Friends of Table Mountain, and Parkscape, contributed hundreds of hours over two years to help create a safer, more welcoming park.

“Despite all efforts and SANParks’ public statements of support, the VSS team encountered ongoing resistance, poor communication, lack of urgency, and unfulfilled commitments from TMNP management.

“Repeated offers to co-create solutions – ranging from logistical and incident response support to joint patrols, safety communications, SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) frameworks, branded apparel, and volunteer recruitment – were largely ignored or indefinitely delayed,” the statement said.

Although SANParks publicly backed the VSS programme, members said its actions failed to reflect a genuine partnership. VSS founding members highlighted several unmet commitments, including delayed safety hut rollouts, lack of formal operating procedures, exclusion from key safety planning discussions, and stalled delivery of approved volunteer gear.

These challenges, they argue, reveal a broader pattern of limited communication, lack of urgency, and missed opportunities to improve visitor safety through collaboration.

“Given this reality, and after long deliberation and heartfelt effort, the original VSS founding members – excluding the SANParks Honorary Rangers, who operate under a separate mandate –have formally withdrawn from the MoU with TMNP and SANParks, and will now pursue independent Volunteer Safety Services initiatives,” the statement continued.

Blake Dyason, of Love Our Trails and co-founder of the initiative, said the decision stemmed from TMNP’s lack of prioritisation. “We believed in this partnership and gave it everything we had. But when simple, approved commitments like shirts and huts can’t be delivered for months, it’s clear that deeper systemic changes are even further off.”

“Until TMNP treats visitor safety as an urgent priority with an inclusive strategy and real action on the ground, meaningful collaboration will remain out of reach.”

Meanwhile, a report by Friends of Table Mountain revealed that women are 70% more likely to be targeted in criminal attacks on the mountain.

The non-profit, which tracks violent crime through social media, police, and other reports, recorded 78 attacks in TMNP between January and mid-May this year, more than double the number of female victims compared to males.

“This is the highest number of violent crimes on TMNP ever recorded in the first five months of any previous year. If this trend continues, 2025 will break the record for the most violent crime on the mountain, with more than 200 attacks predicted by December. Previously 2023 held this dubious honour with 151 attacks in total,” the group said.

JP Louw, SANParks head of communications and spokesperson, said SANParks has taken note of the regrettable decision by some members to leave the VSS initiative but does not agree with the reasons cited for their withdrawal.

“We also want to emphasise that the VSS project is continuing and, as was announced at the point of its introduction, it is not an exclusive but an inclusive effort. It will always remain open for any volunteers who wish to play a meaningful partnership role in Table Mountain National Park.

“Table Mountain National Park continues to relate successfully with other groups that participate in the VSS. We will also continue to engage all volunteers who are interested in constructive engagements about how best we can cooperate in the interest of what we all cherish, which is Table Mountain National Park.”

According to Mr Louw, SANParks has implemented several measures in recent months to address rising contact crime levels in TMNP, including:

An increase the ranger corps and other support functions in TMNP by 49% (with a 43% increase in conservation staff), including increasing the SEAM Special Operations team from 16 to 40 rangers.

Aerial deployment of the SANParks helicopter over peak visitor seasons to augment ground operations.

Joint operations with SAPS, City Law Enforcement, Metro Police and community safety initiatives.

Information sharing and joint deployment through the Table Mountain Safety Forum, held every second week.

Targeted operations managed through the Operations Centre of SANParks and Fusion Centre of City of Cape Town.