Table Mountain cable car tender process will be public and open, assures SANParks

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has issued a statement to set the record straight regarding the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC) contract, which is up for renewal in the next four years. 

SANParks was responding to concerns made in an article recently published by IOL, in which it is alleged that the TMACC service provider had not been changed since the cableway was launched in 1929. 

The TMACC forms part of SANParks’ public-private partnership programme (PPP), which consist of 54 privately-owned business projects investing in 20 national parks across the country, said SANParks chief executive officer Fundisile Mketeni.

“The tenets of these PPP agreements are premised on agreed financial, environmental, operational and in the latter years, an emphasis on broad-based black economic empowerment [B-BBEE] obligations.”

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Black economic empowerment and public-private partnerships

Mketeni added that the PPP programme involved private partners complying with the 2015 tourism B-BBEE scorecard, with the TMACC being a level one B-BBEE contributor.

TMACC’s website states it has a level 3 B-BBEE rating.

“Already SANParks has embarked on the necessary legal and operational processes which include discussions with the management of TMACC as it readies itself for the opening of this tender for participation by qualifying businesses.

“This process as with all SANParks tender processes will be public, open, transparent and able to withstand public scrutiny.”

Under the PPP programme, SANParks said it was able to reduce delivery costs and improve service levels while focusing on conservation and leveraging private capital and expertise. 

In 2016, more than R712 million in infrastructure developments were recorded, and almost 2000 direct jobs created since the PPP programme was instilled in 2000. 

For the TMACC, the PPP seeks to source specialised skills to operate the tourism facility. In 2018-2019, 225 jobs were created, and the value of the agreement stood at R26,369,900. 

The tender process to appoint an operator is set to conclude before termination for the TMACC, which will be on 25 November 2025. 

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History of the TMACC

The TMACC was formed by Sir Alfred Hennessy, Sir David Graaff and Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, and financed the construction of the funicular. The cableway was opened for the first time in 1929, after two years of construction. 

The TMACC has been at the helm of the tourist attraction for 91 years. 

Table Mountain was officially declared a national monument in 1958, and a nature reserve in 1964.

By 1994, there were 14 different management authorities managing conservation-worthy land in the Cape Peninsula area, which led to a single statuary managing authority being established for the future management of the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE). 

“The land allocated for the establishment of the Table Mountain National Park included land owned and managed by various national, provincial and local government departments and authorities – the bulk of the land lay under the control of three local authorities namely Cape Metropolitan Council, South Peninsula Municipality and the City of Cape Town,” Mketeni said.  

From May 1998, the land was leased to the then National Parks Board, now known as SANParks, which led to the official establishment of Table Mountain National Park, Mketeni explained. 

The transaction meant SANParks would inherit the agreement signed in November 1926 between local authorities and the TMACC. This also meant inheriting the TMACC owning the cableway for 99 years. As per the agreement signed in the 1920s, the TMACC has the sole right to construct, run and maintain costs of the cableway. 

Back in those days, the local authority leased to TMACC at £1 per annum.

Today, the inherited agreement has transformed into the PPP programme, which offsets operational costs and job creation.

Anxieties relating to the upcoming tender processes involved in transferring ownership of the cableway for the first time in almost 100 years involve the need to empower black businesses, as well as the release of a new and improved PPP tender.

Compiled by Nica Richards

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