/ 25 November 2011

Fairest Cape turns ugly for hikers

After a spate of attacks on hikers, a volunteer group is considering taking South African National Parks’s Table Mountain National Park to court to compel it to inform the public about the crime hotspots in the Cape Peninsula.

Police refused to provide statistics, but one estimate is that there have been 37 attacks on locals and tourists walking in the mountains and on the beaches this year.

The park encompasses the scenic Table Mountain Chain, stretching from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south, as well as the seas and coastline of the Cape Peninsula.

Table Mountain was included this month on a provisional list of seven new wonders of the natural world. The vote will be confirmed early next year. It is also a Unesco world heritage site.

“We’re approaching senior counsel to see whether we should take our fight to court,” said André van Schalkwyk of the Table Mountain Safety Action Group.

An IT specialist, Van Schalkwyk has created a web page and a Twitter account to keep hikers informed of attacks that have taken place on mountains and beaches in the park.

“We’re talking to a number of parties to approach the high court collectively in an effort to determine the rights of ordinary mountain users and their safety in the park.

“The park has not changed its strategy since 2006,” Van Schalkwyk said.

“If you look at the escalation in crime, its strategy is not working. It’s a very reactive strategy, based on the off-chance that the rangers spot the muggers and then chase them down with dogs. We don’t know of any attack or arrest where a dog has brought down a mugger.”

The latest victims
If Green Point businessman JJ Badenhorst had known of a recent attack on walkers on a trail on Karbonkel Mountain in Hout Bay, he would have chosen a different route, he said from his Constantiaberg Hospital bed this week.

Badenhorst and his friend, Thea Burger, became the latest victims of mountain attacks when three knife-wielding muggers surrounded them on the trail last weekend.

Badenhorst broke a leg when he fell while trying to escape. He was about to undergo an operation when the Mail & Guardian interviewed him. “It was only after I was attacked that I learned about the Twitter account set up to let us know about attacks. If I’d known about the earlier attack, I wouldn’t have gone on that walk with just one friend and would probably have chosen a different trail.

“I keep telling myself it could have been a lot worse,” Badenhorst said. “Thea went back to work but just burst out crying once she got there. I’m doing all right. I hurt my ribs and I’m struggling to breathe.”

In September this year two knife-wielding men attacked a woman and a child on the Karbonkel Mountain trail. In January there was an attempt to rape a hiker.

There were also four attacks in September and October in the nearby Sandy Bay area. In total there have been nine attacks in Sandy Bay this year.

Last week tourists were attacked and a woman was mugged in Cecilia Forest, a popular walk near Constantia. The trial of alleged assailants who stabbed two British tourists on Table Mountain last year is continuing.

Police said they could not provide statistics of attacks on mountains and beaches, as crime statistics were released annually by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

But the chairperson of the Table Mountain Forum, Marc Truss, said he believed there have been as many as 20 attacks on mountain walkers this year. The voluntary forum is working with police and SANParks to stop the attacks.

Van Schalkwyk and other volunteers worked with the forum until recently, but he left because he felt the Table Mountain National Park was doing nothing to warn hikers about past attacks.

“We believe there have been 37 attacks in the Table Mountain National Park this year,” he said. “It can’t be allowed to continue.”

As well as online alerts, he would like to see signposts in affected areas warning about recent attacks. He has accused the park of not sending safety rangers to these areas, including the popular Sandy Bay nudist beach.

“But the park appears reluctant to post signage or to place rangers at trail heads to warn people because they fear it will affect tourism,” Van Schalkwyk said.

“How do they think tourists feel when they leave here with stab wounds?”

Badenhorst said that in February a Swedish walker was stabbed three times by two assailants on Signal Hill.

Merle Collins, Cape regional spokesperson for South African National Parks, said the number of patrols on Table Mountain and in other areas has been increased and that 50 new safety rangers were added, bringing the complement to 93. The number of dogs helping the unit has also been increased, after 10 German shepherds were donated to the park, she said.

“The issue of alerting the public is very contentious. We’re not police. If an attack happens, we alert the police. We’re not on duty 24 hours a day, but when we hear of an attack, we allocate safety rangers to the area,” she said.

“If you can think of a way of how to alert people, let me know. How can we put the information online when the police could still be investigating and trying to make arrests?”

After last weekend’s attack, the volunteer group listed the Karbonkel Mountain trail, the Cecilia Forest and Noordhoek beach as crime hotspots on the Twitter TableMntnWatch account and on its web page.