CAPE TOWN – On Saturday, 1 March 2025, the Cape Baboon Partnership officially took over the management of baboons on the Cape Peninsula. With a visionary statement that reads “Connecting communities, authorities, and the environment,” this initiative heralds “a new era of good management for our baboons.”

This dynamic partnership is a collaboration between the City of Cape Town, SANParks, and CapeNature, rooted in a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed on 23 December 2024 with Shark Spotters. The aim: to enhance baboon management and promote harmonious co-existence between humans and wildlife.

In response to a request for name suggestions for the monitoring programme, well-known Rooiels baboon advocate Tracy Cronje submitted six options, one of which was chosen. The operative word here is “partnership.”

Enter the Cape Peninsula Baboon Action Group (CPBAG), a collective of stakeholders poised to advise and support the Cape Peninsula Baboon Management Joint Task Team (CPBMJTT) in achieving the goals outlined in the Baboon Strategic Management Plan (CPBSMP). This group will facilitate the plan’s local implementation, ensure ongoing constructive engagement with the CPBMJTT, and help forge strategic partnerships with stakeholders.

The CPBAG’s list of representatives includes individuals with diverse and sometimes opposing views on baboons, but this diversity is essential for balanced decision-making, local baboon activists say.

The CPBAG will play a pivotal role in baboon management on the Cape Peninsula, particularly in fostering collaboration among stakeholders. The CPBMJTT eagerly anticipates working with the CPBAG to devise constructive solutions and nurture positive relationships that benefit communities and the Chacma baboon population alike.

Dorrienne Maes, a concerned resident of Betty’s Bay, hopes that Overstrand Municipality will take note of this development and re-engage with stakeholders, as the City of Cape Town has done. She was previously involved with the Western Baboon Liaison Group, established under the municipality’s Strategic Baboon Management Plan approved by the Western Cape’s cabinet. However, the group’s last meeting was in April 2023.

“Collaboration, engagement with ALL stakeholders, and transparency by Overstrand Municipality is sadly lacking, resulting in the unfortunate situation in Pringle Bay,” Maes said.

“There are examples of successful monitoring, such as that of the (Constantia) CT2 troop on the Cape Peninsula, managed for the last couple of years by a group of volunteers from the Baboon Watch group and a team of trained monitors, funded by the public with the help of Baboon Matters, an NPO.

“This troop was excluded from the CoCT Baboon Management programme in recent years and the management style by Baboon Watch was one of respect, trust, and a calm approach without the use of Paintball Guns. They have now been included in the Cape Baboon Partnership programme under the management of the Shark Spotters and with the retention of those caring monitors. 

“Should this successful model not be explored by Overstrand Municipality in Pringle Bay – instead of clinging to the outdated, malfunctioning HWS management style they have currently adopted,”  Dorienne asked.