Update on the Baboon Management Program – Statement in the Overstrand Herald
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE – HWS is out, now can Overstrand Municipality please listen to our needs?
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE – HWS is out, now can Overstrand Municipality please listen to our needs?
It is with absolute trepidation that KVET (The Kogelberg Village Environmental Trustees) find themselves being informed by the Overberg Municipality that they have cancelled their very important and public tender for the Management of the Kogelberg Baboons. This is a huge disappointment as it is such an important and urgent matter to be attended to. We have had so many failures in supporting and looking after our own environment and this is most definitely a huge opportunity missed.
It is very important to point out at this juncture that community meetings were called by Mayor Rabie to assess and allegedly work with the community and to listen to our needs. It was a resounding YES that the community asked for a community programme and Mayor Rabie advised the residents to meet with the relevant ward councillor to state what we want the community programme to look like and in full halls the community did just that.
KVET have worked relentlessly to bring stability to the management of our baboons by firstly presenting the OM with a very comprehensive proposal as to how it is possible to
manage the baboons with the support of the local communities, the baboons in our environment, and taking the initiative to bring calmness to the villages and environment.
This proposal was rejected as OM decided to go out to tender. In March a tender was issued by the OM for the management of baboons and KVET participated and presented a very comprehensive and financially viable tender to the OM based on input from Betty’s Bay Baboon Action Group (BBBAG), Betty’s Bay Conservancy (BBC) and Pringle Bay Rewilding
(PBR).
When HWS walked off-site in Pringle Bay earlier in the year following a dispute with the OM, the village remained in baboon chaos but had the opportunity to change the way the baboons were managed and treated, showing that local community management is a viable and better option to deal with the baboons. KVET stepped up and placed four Baboon Information Officers (BIOs) in the town to put an end to the issues of baboon activities in the town centre.
We have found that most of the residents consider this a very positive approach and experience. We must keep in mind that it is somewhat easier to sit at home and fight a furious battle on Facebook and be judgemental rather than to go out into the sun, rain, cold and wind to ensure that the human baboon conflict is kept under control. Now the OM has terminated the tender citing lack of funds. One could ask why they issued a tender which contained a lot of specifications that added to the cost thereof, if they did not have sufficient funds?
Allegedly, OM have decided to go down the route of mass employment of local EPWP (Expanded Public Works Programme) individuals. We are concerned as to the level of training in baboon management, the management of waste and the environment. This also means that our communities will be managed by strangers with no understanding of our villages, our residents or our baboons and all the relevant management of waste, etc that goes with such an endeavour.
KVET is still determined to be positive. We are offering our skills and resources to work with the OM in developing a community-based baboon management program. It is possible and has worked in various other environments and areas. KVET has valuable experience with working and training monitors. It has always been our approach and policy to employ local people and upskill and train such individuals in all the necessary skills required to enable positive and efficient management of our environment.
The key is management and training from local management that live within Bettys Bay and Pringle Bay.
Our biosphere can be leading the pack in a strategic approach towards managing the wildlife that forms an integral part of the Kogelberg villages.
Please put nature first and work with us to keep the wildlife in our biosphere.
