Protecting protected areas

Cape Town 130909. Mnandi Beach Resort, part of the False Bay Nature Reserve, where pieces of fencing, braai stands and playground aparatus are missing or have been vandalised.Picture:Jason Boud

Cape Town 130909. Mnandi Beach Resort, part of the False Bay Nature Reserve, where pieces of fencing, braai stands and playground aparatus are missing or have been vandalised.Picture:Jason Boud

Published Sep 12, 2013

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Cape Town - Poor security, staff shortages and ageing equipment are some of the challenges facing the City of Cape Town’s 16 nature reserves.

Thieves have made off with fences, vandalised vehicles and even stolen boom gates. But the city is looking at appointing nature reserve advisory committees to help improve the management of these sites.

And city director of environment and planning Ossie Asmal said the nature reserves were in a far better position than in 2007 – a boost of a R100-million investment from national government would help improve conditions.

Julia Wood of the city’s biodiversity management branch, said in a report to the economic, environmental and spatial planning portfolio committee that an external review of the nature reserves had found that all protected areas fell into the category of “basic management with significant deficiencies”. This was a “considerable improvement” from eight years ago, when the score was “management clearly inadequate”.

However, budget constraints were an ongoing concern, as well as the huge amount of overtime that was being paid because of staff shortages.

Steenbras Nature Reserve was among the worst, and discussions about the future of the office complex at the reserve were under way.

The report referred to the poor state of the office and its constant need for maintenance as a “major challenge in terms of communication and service delivery” at the reserve.

Wood said safety and security for staff and visitors remained the “most serious and expensive challenge” in almost all the reserves. Staff at the False Bay Nature Reserve had had to deal with the ongoing theft of portions of the perimetre fence.

Additional security was deployed to deter thieves, and an electric fence was erected to confine the hippos that were managing to escape.

Incidents of theft and vandalism were also prevalent in several other nature reserves. At the Edith Stephens reserve in Philippi there had been several break-ins and robberies. A second security guard had since been deployed, and additional patrols.

Vehicles and infrastructure were damaged by vandals at the Helderberg Nature Reserve and Weltevreden depot. The city had responded by upping security and paying extra for a private security company.

The Wolfgat Nature Reserve in Mitchells Plain had to deal with the theft of the boom gates as well as signage.

Wood said the age of several vehicles in the biodiversity management’s fleet meant they were often out of action, going for extensive repairs. “This has hampered operational work severely. The age of these vehicles is a cause for concern, as these will need to be replaced in the next few years in order to continue operations.”

She said the matter had been discussed with fleet management services and the four oldest vehicles would be replaced in the current financial year.

Zandvlei Nature Reserve needed a new weed harvester, as the old machine in use could not do the job properly. In the Tygerberg area, which includes the Bothasig Fynbos Nature Reserve, staff got by with “unreliable and old vehicles”. - Cape Argus

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