Following an article published by the Independent Media titled ‘Concern over Table Mountain tender process’, the country’s body charged with the management of the national parks system, South African National Parks (SANParks) would like to put into perspective its transformation agenda.
This according to Fundisile Mketeni CEO of SANParks who said any discussion of the current agreement with the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC) is incomplete without an assessment of the historical background.
He explains that the origin of the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) can be traced back over 100 years to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with the establishment of a number of State Forests. “From the 1930’s to the 1960’s parts of present day TMNP were declared under provincial legislation and Table Mountain itself was declared as both a National Monument in 1958 and a Nature Reserve in 1964. These areas were included into the Cape Peninsula Nature Area – the predecessor of the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE).”
According to Mketeni by 1994 there were 14 different management authorities managing conservation worthy land on the Cape Peninsula, leading to a recommendation by the Kahn Working Group that a single statutory managing authority be established for the future management of the CPPNE. “Following a national cabinet decision, national, provincial and local authorities took steps to make land available in the CPPNE for the establishment of the National Park.”
“The land allocated for the establishment of the Table Mountain National Park included land owned and managed by various national, provincial and local government departments and authorities – the bulk of the land lay under the control of three local authorities namely Cape Metropolitan Council, South Peninsula Municipality and the City of Cape Town,” said Mketeni.
He said the Council’s intention to lease and sell certain land within the CPPNE to the National Parks Board was advertised in the media in terms of the Municipal Ordinance No. 20 of 1974 on January 16 1998 and no objections were received pertaining to the transaction. “With effect from 1 May 1998, the land was leased to the then National Parks Board as South African National Parks was referred to at the time, for inclusion in a “contractual” National Park leading to the official proclamation of Table Mountain National Park.”
Mketeni added that with this transaction, SANParks inherited an agreement signed in November 1926 between the Local Authority and TMACC which granted TMACC for a period of 99 years from that date, the sole right to construct, run, and the obligation to maintain at its cost, a passenger cableway service to the top of Table Mountain and a restaurant at the Upper Station Area.
The Local Authority leased to TMACC at a nominal rental of £1 per annum an area of land in extent approximately 2 acres, on the main western buttress of Table Mountain on which the Upper Station Area and the restaurant were to be erected.
He said this inherited agreement is now managed as part of SANParks’ Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme which consists of 54 privately owned and managed business projects across its network of 20 National Parks across the country. These span a wide range of operations from accommodation, restaurants, retail stores to tourist activities such as the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway.
According to Mketeni, these businesses provide significant contributions to the funding of conservation and creating sustainability for SANParks which is largely a self-funding entity. “The tenets of these PPP agreements are premised on agreed financial, environmental, operational and in the latter years an emphasis on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment obligations.”
He also indicated that the transformation of its private sector partners at ownership level is recognised by SANParks as a key lever to the transformation of the tourism sector in South Africa… “as such all SANParks private partners comply with the 2015 Tourism B- BBEE scorecard and this is not excluding TMACC which is a level one B- BBEE contributor.”
He concluded by saying indeed the TMACC contract terminates in the next four years… “and already SANParks has embarked on the necessary legal and operational processes which include discussions with the management of TMACC as it readies itself for the opening of this tender for participation by qualifying businesses. This process as with all SANParks tender processes will be public, open, transparent and able to withstand public scrutiny.”
For previous media statements please go to www.sanparks.org
