CT Pensioners Not Wild about Wild Card

Tue, 17 Mar 2009

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Don''t get me wrong - I''m a big fan of SANParks and all they do for SA Conservation. But I do take issue with their scrapping of pensioners'' concessions. Here''s why...

A caller to Cape Talk this morning told how he decided to visit the beautiful Cape Point Nature Reserve this weekend and was horrified when instead of the R10 he was used to paying in the past (as a pensioner) he was told he needed to pay R60. This, he was informed, would get him a Cape Town Wild Card **which would allow him to enter any of the listed Table Mountain National Park sites up to a total of 12 visits a year.

The caller was not impressed. As a pensioner he does not feel that he will make use of the card as he does not frequent these sites often enough. Disappointed, he headed back to Simon’s Town for lunch.

Will other pensioners also vote with their feet?

Is it fair to offer a concession to a group of Captonians for whom the R60 is simply not going to be well spent?

Now I am a big supporter of the Wild Card programme. My partner purchases a Family Wild Card every year and uses it regularly for rock climbing, taking our family to various sites for hiking and picnics, and for surfing at Cape Point. It’s definitely worth the annual fee he pays.

On the other hand, my parents are pensioners without a lot of spare cash, and are fairly frail to boot. While they would enjoy a visit to Cape Point for lunch perhaps once or twice a year, they would not be among those more active elderly who hike all over the Peninsula waving their Wild Card merrily under the noses of the SANParks’ staff at the entrance gates. And I know they''re not alone.

A spokesperson for Table Mountain National Parks said that:

The pensioners’ concession has being scrapped across all 22 of South Africa''s national parks, in favour of the Wild Card concession. This has been in effect as of 1st of November 2008. A Wild Card will cost you R60, which will allow you to enter the parks 12 times. You can also bring 12 people in with one card, using up your 12 visits.

Personally I feel that pensioners in this country get precious little when compared with first world countries. Surely keeping low concessions that allow them the joy of enjoying our beautiful country whenever it suits them is not too much to ask?

** FYI - The Cape Town Wild Card benefits are as follows:

The card offers twelve entries for one year into TMNP’s pay points:

The Cape of Good Hope (Cape Point)
Boulders Penguin Colony
Tokai
Silvermine
Oudekraal
Plus FREE use of the braai and picnic areas at: Newlands, and Perdekloof picnic sites
Gardening rewards - get 5% CashBack at popular nurseries

Over and above the benefits available from SANParks, Cape Town’s Wild Card can be used at Cape Town Infinity merchants such as Stodels Nursery or Kolnicks linen to earn CashBack Rewards. Each time you use your card at one of these merchants a percentage of the transaction goes towards conservation.

Discounted entry to other places of interest in Cape Town.

Recreational activity permits that can be loaded onto the base cost of the card.

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Ref: #307

Reader Feedback (4)

Emmie (5 years ago)

I am the "frail, elderly pensioner" referred to above. The female half. And I strongly endorse the sentiments expressed there. Undoubtedly there are many good peers of mine who love to whoop it up wildly in nature at every opportunity. I am not of that elite company. Give me my laptop and my gardden any day, with the odd coffee on the beach. So, yes, I could arguably enjoy the odd annual lunch down at Cape Point, or at some other beauty spot. Paying R60 for the privilege, though, would definitely give me a pain in my poor, frail....stomach.

Joy (5 years ago)

Thanks for the endorsment Mom :-) and for not taking the frail elderly comment too much to heart :-)

Lyn portlock (5 years ago)

On a totally different note, where do SA pensioners go to buy discounted food when they get their pension? I''m curios. I''ve tried loads of websites and have had no results. My parents are pensioners and i try to help as much as i can. Its difficult but i have to help. Where can they go? They get a lousy pension and sometimes most of them still have to pay a bond and have no medical aid!!! Its shocking!!! These people worked hard all their lives and this is what they get. Its appalling. The goverment should be ashamed. My parents are wonderful decent people and to be belittled like this is digusting. They deserve dignity and respect, instead they have to hobble through life trying desparately to make ends meet. I speak for all South African Pensioners in the same boat......what about their dignity???? Food prices are terribly high, electricity has become a luxury most can''t afford, public transport...well a trip to the city (2 suburbs) away) would cost them in the region of R20 for 2, a loaf of bread and milk...easily R14.00 etc. etc. Do they have to sit in their homes like prisoners day aftr day because they JUST CANT AFFORD TO KEEP UP??? They''ve worked hard all their lives to be treated like this in their golden years, absolutely shocking and appalling. Please forward advice. Regards Lyn (robblynn@mweb.co.za)

T.Coetzee (3 years ago)

San Parks (and the whole recreation industry) have geared their prices and facilities to the tourists - They are ensuring that we, the locals, cannot afford these facilities, as it kills the profits that they make with all the extras that they offer the tourists, that we are probably not going to purchase. When tourism drops in the the off peak periods, they then offer specials are are not really suitable to the locals, but because we have no option, we then partake of these. We need to vote with our feet and when the turnstiles to these facilities have slowed down, we must ensure that they are not subsidised by Soouth African Residents.