Novice Cape Town's 2009 Baboon Technical Committee

Committee Profile

For decades, wild baboons have savagely raided Cape Town, South Africa. For tourists, they might be charming critters who just want a bite to eat, but the same cannot be said for the Cape Town locals, who have assigned infamy to the apes. This is because baboons break into cars, climb into houses, and assault people in order to get food. 

Conservationists and researchers say that baboons must be returned to the wild in nearby national parks. Animal activists want Cape Town residents to learn to live with the animals in harmony, defying violent resistance. But those residents want nothing to do with the baboons; some residents petition the city to fence off areas of the city, and others are becoming increasingly militant, shooting unruly baboons with paintball guns. 

Another group of people who want the baboons gone by any means necessary is the World Cup planning committee. South Africa is set to host the World Cup in 2010, further complicating the baboon issue by adding another voice of opinion into the complicated mix.

The issue of baboons in Cape Town represents so much more than an odd consequence of urbanization: it’s at the intersection of conservation, geopolitics, sports, and above all, human safety.

Chair Letter

What up, delegates,

Welcome to the Cape Town Baboon Committee for BruinMUN 32! My name’s Dean Bruton, and I’ll be your chair. I’m a first year environmental science major and environmental engineering minor at UCLA, and appropriately hope to become an engineer after graduation. I’m from Chicago originally, but I am loving my time in California and can’t wait to give you guys the best BruinMUN experience! 

As for my experience in Model UN, I started in freshman year of high school. Due to COVID shutting down conferences during my sophomore year, I actually quit MUN because the virtual conferences couldn’t compare to the in-person ones. Over the course of that year, I realized that MUN was important to not only my education, but my development as a person, and it helped me make memories with my schoolmates. So, I returned to competition in my junior year, and have loved it since. 

Aside from Model UN, I am absolutely obsessed with baseball. I played for my high school team (even though I didn’t see the field often) and played travel ball, too. Also, as you might have been able to guess based on my major and minor, I love the environment. I’m into camping, hiking, and I dabble in fishing. Conservation and sustainability are passions of mine; I intend on alleviating climate change through engineering sustainable projects in my future profession (fingers crossed).

On the topic of conservation, this committee deals with humanity’s relation to animals. For years, baboons have been infamous in Cape Town for interfering with daily life. From interrupting political meetings to train operations, baboons have certainly left their mark on Cape Town. In 2009, there were baboon break-ins, as a gang of 29 baboons broke into multiple cars to steal food from inside them. In the build-up to the 2010 World Cup, delegates in this committee have to make sure that the influx of tourists will be safe from baboon activity, yet simultaneously refrain from completely eradicating the baboon population. Or do that, if that’s your thing.

Good luck and have fun!

Dean Bruton | Chair, Cape Town | BruinMUN 32

capetown@bruinmun.org