If those in Cape Town who are outraged that SANParks has allowed a portion of its land to be handed to a private company — Entilini, the concession company that upgraded Chapman’s Peak Drive — for its offices do go to court over the matter, that will be fascinating.

Since the upgrading of Chapman’s Peak Drive began in 2003, the scenic route has been embroiled in controversy. That seems set to continue.

It would be good to have a definitive answer on whether SANParks land can be handed over in this way. Not that this is unprecedented, at least on the surface — there are private concessions and hotels in various game parks. All are controversial. In a sense they should be — each development should be hotly debated. Our national parks must be kept in as pristine a condition as possible. In fact, “as possible” is not good enough because it is too vague. They must be kept pristine. For a large part they and all they contain are all we have left of our fantastic heritage. We cannot allow ourselves to lose it.

However, there is also the ugly question of money. Once again we juxtapose the need to protect our wonderful flora and fauna for posterity with the need for SANParks to raise funds. Over the years, the operational grant given to SANParks has been progressively dwindling. SANParks itself generates about 80% of its operational funds, said David Mabunda, its CEO, last March.

The question, then, is: how does the entity raise the funds needed to keep our flora and fauna safe? Someone, somewhere described Table Mountain National Park as a “cash cow” for SANParks, and no doubt it does bring in large revenue; as does the Kruger National Park. That’s a cynical view, one I hope is mistaken.

There is a tough line to tread for those running the parks, between keeping them sacrosanct and raising the funds needed to keep sacrosanct the pockets of our heritage that we still have. Reasoned debate is good — I hope we can come up with good ways to raise funds, ways that will be best for South Africa and its parks.

I seriously doubt everyone will be pleased, but one thing is certain: every development in every national park needs to be squeaky clean, and to be shown to be so. South Africa’s citizens have every right to question SANParks’ every step.

Tags: Cape Town, national parks, SANParks, Table Mountain