Cosatu slams SANParks in open letter
What working family can go to a National Park during the week or on a Saturday?
Provincial secretary of Cosatu, Tony Ehrenreich writes:
Open letter to the Board on discriminatory special promotion of SANParks
Please receive correspondence from our offices in respect of the special promotion that allowed day visitors to enter SANParks free of charge during SA National Parks Week.
The special offer to promote tourism in the off-season in SANParks is clearly still discriminatory in respect of who it affords access to.
What working family can go to a National Park during the week or on a Saturday? These are the days when families are working hard to make ends meet, or has your board been removed from the realities of working people for too long, as a result of the huge board fees the public purse pays you?
This measure is supposed to encourage our country to visit national parks and to give new potential visitors’ kids an educational experience. The sad reality is that mainly white upper-class families can go to the parks on the days that you give them free access. This section of the society, however, does not need your freebies to encourage them to visit national parks, as they have no shortage of money.
The use of the Cable Way to get to the top of Table Mountain on a buy one get one free basis is also favouring the wealthy. Only those who can afford one ticket can use this privilege. Again those who can afford one ticket, have enough money for two.
If you were serious about giving ordinary South Africans access to the over-priced national parks, you would make it available for the Sunday also, at the very least. As that is the day families can afford not to work and take their families out.
It is amazing how those on the Board who are meant to transform our society, become assimilated into the system and see the marginalisation of working families and the poor as normal.
We look forward to your earliest reply – failing which we will start a public campaign against the policies of SANParks.
Chief executive officer of SANParks Dr David Mabunda writes:
South African National Parks would like to acknowledge your open letter, dated September 11 2013. We take this opportunity to respond to your concerns on the points raised.
I would like to point out some areas of misunderstanding or misinformation in your correspondence. Firstly I inform you that SA National Parks Week is not a campaign aimed at promoting tourism during off-season. Our national parks rarely ever have what is referred to as off-season because they cater to different climates, interests and clients. The campaign is a programme that is aimed at teaching South Africans more about their natural heritage by encouraging them to go to national parks. It is about raising awareness and educating rather than marketing and promotion.
Secondly it is important to point out that the appointed Board of SANParks is performing what could be called a public service which they are not paid for. The Board members only receive compensation for travelling to and from meetings, which are scheduled four times in a year, and also receive a subsistence and travel stipend of R2 726 for attending each meeting. Some of the members have not collected their stipend.
Thirdly, please note that the Cable Way is a privately managed activity within the Table Mountain National Park. Furthermore, note the media releases on the campaign which indicate that activities and accommodation in national parks is not included as part of the free access. It is aimed at giving an opportunity to the public to learn more about conservation and it is up to them to then take advantage of the enjoyment of products offered in the different parks.
On the issue of the weekend, I would like to make the following points for you:
• SANParks generates 85% of its operating revenue and it is therefore highly dependent on the revenue it receives from tourism paying clients.
• SANParks has decided to make a sacrifice of offering free access on five days of a year in order to give surrounding communities, school groups, unemployed youth, pensioners and all citizens an opportunity to visit parks and receive information on the importance and need for national parks. We believe that members of the public who would like to make use of this opportunity would not find it difficult to in turn make a small sacrifice of a day’s leave to take themselves and their children to the national parks. The weekends would be very difficult on a number of our national parks who depend on booked paying customers that utilize the weekends and they may also run the risk of being congested if the campaign were to run on these days as well.
• The costs of running the campaign over weekends across the country are prohibitive for an organisation that depends on paying customers to survive.
The Board and Management of SANParks are fully committed to the country’s transformation agenda, hence the start of this campaign in 2006. It is in support of our vision statement, which is SANPArks Connecting to Society.
We appreciate your interest in our business and wish to invite you to continue engaging us on issues of concern or interest to yourselves.
