By Odwa Bafana Mkentane
An environmental coalition made up of the Baboon Management Western Cape, Baboon Matters Trust, Beauty Without Cruelty and Baboons of the South says they are preparing criminal charges against the South African Navy over alleged long-standing environmental and statutory violations.
The groups accuse the Navy of poor waste management, neglected and dilapidated buildings, and conditions that allow baboons to access human food waste and occupy unsafe structures, contributing to wildlife habituation and increasing human-wildlife conflict.
The Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) recently announced that 2,200 baboon-proof bins will be delivered to high-conflict Cape Peninsula homes as part of the ongoing implementation of the Cape Peninsula Baboon Action Plan.
The coalition says the upcoming legal action targets prolonged environmental degradation and the creation of hazardous, unhealthy conditions within a critical ecological buffer zone.
“The affected areas border a South African National Park and fall entirely within the Cape Floristic Region, a Marine Protected Area and a UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site. This legal intervention directly addresses the SA Navy’s failure to properly maintain its facilities, specifically focusing on unsecured, dilapidated buildings and systemic waste management failures that continue to severely exacerbate human-wildlife conflict and drive systemic violations of local and national protections,” read the coalition’s statement.
The coalition anticipates that the legal paperwork and formal criminal charges will be completely finalised within the next 21 days.
Photo: Pixabay
