Baboon case settled out of court, say activists

A lawsuit against the City and various government authorities for failing to manage the Cape Peninsula’s baboon population has been settled out of court, say the activists who filed it.

In May, Baboon Matters, Beauty Without Cruelty, animal activist Jo-Ann Bosman and concerned resident Ryno Engelbrecht took the authorities to the Western Cape High Court, accusing them of failing to implement baboon-management strategies on the Cape Peninsula.

The City, SANParks, the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board and Table Mountain National Park were among those named as respondents.

According to a statement from the applicants, the City approached them on Wednesday November 27 to settle the matter out of court, and a court order has been obtained to hold the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (JTT) accountable for implementation of mitigation strategies.

The JTT is made up of SANParks, CapeNature, and the City of Cape Town.

However, in a statement, the JTT said the activists had withdrawn their case and it did not mention settling the matter out of court. Instead it said it “appreciates the acknowledgement of the litigants that the authorities are indeed committed to implementing the baboon strategic management plan” and that “great progress has been made in this regard” and the JTT could “count on their support and cooperation going forward”.

The JTT said all parties to the litigation had agreed to pay their own costs, as per the agreed court order.

According to the applicants’ statement, the court order recorded that the City, SANParks and CapeNature take interim steps “in respect of baboon rangers” for December with a longer term provision of rangers for the first half of next year, and execute a baboon management plan within “a reasonable period of time”.

The statement hailed the order as a “huge win” for baboons and communities, but it noted that while the order included all the relief sought by the applicants, they would continue to “monitor the implementation and progress of the solutions closely”.

The JTT welcomed the withdrawal of litigation. It said the court action had come at great cost in terms of time, money, and human resources while the task team was already “making significant strides” to launch the strategic management plan.

The JTT said it had taken steps to secure baboon rangers in affected areas and address funding, and the city council’s approval, on Thursday December 5, of a proposed partnership with the Shark Spotters, a non-profit organisation, would support the strategic management plan's implementation over the long term.

Once the agreement between the City and Shark Spotters had been finalised, SANParks and CapeNature would also make contributions to Shark Spotters, the details for which would be outlined in individual agreements.

The JTT also plans to host the first meeting of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Advisory Group, representing various communities and organisations, in February next year.

Congratulating baboon activists for “holding publicly funded organisations to account”, Sue Holme, on the Baboon Matters Facebook page, said: “Given that the respondent, after months of legal backwards and forwards, eventually decided to settle out of court, is anyone going to ask for a freedom of information request into how much taxpayers/ratepayers cash has been spent in trying to wriggle out of the responsibility for managing baboons?”

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