A number of measures have been put in place to increase security on Table Mountain — where tourists have recently been mugged, stabbed and raped, the city of Cape Town and the Table Mountain National Park said on Tuesday.
”We are putting in place a range of immediate measures to address security threats that exist, and we are asking residents and visitors to work with us to address the problem,” the city’s executive mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo said.
”I would like to reassure residents and tourists that addressing safety on the mountain is of the highest priority for the City of Cape Town and its partners the Table Mountain National Park.”
Austrian Monika Hoeglsperger, (38), told a Beeld correspondent that she had been raped on the mountain by a knife-wielding man.
In another recent incident, a knifeman stabbed Miki Matsuura, (30), a female taxi driver from Japan, five times. She was discharged from hospital at the weekend.
Security sentry points will be put on Tafelberg Road and Signal Hill Road to monitor all vehicles entering the area. Booms will be erected and speed inhibitors built, while closed circuit television cameras will record vehicle registration numbers and other details.
”These security points will be complimented by additional uniformed personnel on patrol on foot, bicycles, horseback and motorised transport.”
The park manager of the Table Mountain National Park, Brett Myrdal, has also appealed to hikers and visitors to the area to take the necessary precautions.
”We are appealing to all users of the mountain not to walk on their own. Walking in pairs and larger groups is an important safeguard, which we ask everyone to adhere to,” he said. – Sapa