Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
- What is the mandate of the task team established earlier in 2022 to manage the problems caused by baboons in the City of Cape Town, (b)(i) who are the members of this task team and (ii) whom do they represent, (c) on what dates has the task team met and (d) how often will the team be meeting in the foreseeable future?
(a) While the City of Cape Town, SANParks and CapeNature have cooperated in committees and structures previously, on 6 and 7 June 2022, at meetings hosted by the City of Cape Town and the National Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Minister Barbara Creecy, the agencies committed to establishing a Joint Task Team and to develop an approach for the sustainable management of the baboon population on the Cape Peninsula.
The mission of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team is to develop an approach for the sustainable management of the baboon population on the Cape Peninsula. Its objectives are to: conclude a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), including the engagement of other parties to the agreement; develop, with stakeholder engagement, a Strategic Management Plan (SMP), which will form the “implementation protocol” for the MoA; identify and agree on practical measures that are necessary to address agreed immediate and interim priority actions; provide for a joint authorities' decision-making structure to maintain oversight over the persons and institutions tasked with implementing the identified necessary measures of the SMP, as well as to deal on a consensual basis with contentious or sensitive matters that may arise; and to update stakeholders on progress in achieving mission.
(b)(i) and (ii) The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) includes the following representation:
SANParks: Managing Executive: Conservation Services (Dr Luthando Dziba), Managing Executive: Parks (Property Mokoena), Regional General Manager: Cape (Johan Taljaard), Park Manager: Table Mountain National Park (Frans van Rooyen), Area Manager: TMNP South & Central (Gavin Bell).
City of Cape Town: Manager: Biodiversity Management (Julia Wood), Manager: Environmental Compliance (Keith Wiseman).
CapeNature: Executive Director: Conservation Operations (Dr Ernst Baard); Capability Manager: Biodiversity Conservation (Deon Hignett).
(c) The CPBMJTT has met on the following dates: 15 June 2022, 1 July 2022, 12 August 2022, 30 August 2022, 16 September 2022, 30 September 2022 14 October 2022, 11 November 2022.
(d) The CPBMJTT will meet on an ongoing basis to conclude the MoA, the SMP and will continue in existence under the MoA to oversee the implementation thereof once signed off by the relevant organizations.
