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We are in the midst of the 16th annual SA National Parks (SANParks) Week, which runs from November 22 through to November 28.

Sadly, we are also in the midst of a spate of muggings and car break-ins.

Crime watch groups have said that incidents recently occurred in Tafelberg Road, Cecilia Forest, Constantia Nek, and Scarborough.

IOL reports that hotspots appear to be Tafelberg Road and Kloof Nek Corner:

Andre van Schalkwyk of Table Mountain Watch said crime in the park has long been seasonal and that there was likely a seasonal uptick caused by an influx of tourism. However, he said despite this there was no formal safety plan from SANParks. Van Schalkwyk said park users were not happy.

“We tried for years to get SANParks to reinvigorate the park forum and earlier this year we thought we’d finally made great strides when it was announced. However, since then we have no idea of their mandate, objectives or plans.”

Table Mountain Watch shared details of the Scarborough mugging on Facebook two weeks back:

Parkscape chairperson Nicky Schmidt also said details from SANParks on crime prevention were few and far between.

Plans for the R2 billion mission area joint operations centre (MAJOC) have apparently been shelved and a smaller joint operations centre is being considered.

Other accounts of crime have also been discussed on Facebook:

SANParks says it is doing everything it can to prevent criminal incidents:

SANParks spokesperson Lauren Clayton said they have been proactive in conducting daily patrols to prevent crime related incidents and only had less than 20 incidents from January to-date. Clayton said joint operations with police, City Law Enforcement and other stakeholders were conducted to ensure visitors’ safety.

“We encourage visitors to take note of our visitor safety information guide before visiting the park,” she said.

Clayton added that SANParks would reveal additional safety measures in early December.

The SANParks website has three rules for personal hiking safety:

• Do not attract unwanted attention by openly displaying cash, cameras or other valuables.
• If you are confronted by a criminal, don’t resist. Hand over your goods as resistance might incite a mugger to violence.
• Program emergency numbers in your cellphone before your hike.

Those emergency numbers include:

• Main emergency number: 086 110 6417
• Emergency SAPS (South African Police Service): 10111 (02110111 on cell)
• Emergency CT Emergency Services: (021) 480 7700
• Emergency CT Central OPS Centre: (021) 467 8002

Further safety tips are also listed here.

[sources:iol&sanparks]