A delegation of fishers from Western Cape coastal towns will deliver a memorandum to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) today over the continued mismanagement of the Interim Relief process

The delegation will demand that their grievances be addressed with immediate effect and will not leave the department’s offices until such time.

Representatives from all Coastal Links South Africa branches in the Western Cape will deliver the memorandum to the offices of DAFF, in Cape Town on the Foreshore at 12:00noon today.

Deep and enduring problems with the Interim Relief system is playing havoc with the lives of thousands of people in Small-scale fishing communities across the Western and Northern Cape.

The late issuing of permits, the inclusion of non-fishers in beneficiary lists and general mismanagement by DAFF deprives fishers of sustainable livelihoods and is causing conflict in communities.

There are persistent allegations of corruption in the allocation processes. In 2005, the government adopted long-term fishing policies that made no provision for small-scale fishers. Masifundise took the matter to the Equality Court in 2006. By 2007 the court ruled that a new policy must be developed and an interim relief package for small-scale fishers be formulated and implemented. The Interim Relief Permit system was meant to provide temporary relief to fishers who did not benefit from Long Term Rights

Meanwhile the IR system continues – and so do the inefficiencies, mismanagement and general dysfunctionality. Interim Relief arrangements, which began in 2007, were meant to be in place for a year. But the Small-scale fisheries (SSF) policy was only finally adopted in 2012 and the amended MLRA this year, which opened the way for implementation. But there is little progress in the implementation process.
CLSA and MDT want an immediate end to the IR system and the rapid implementation of the Small-scale fisheries (SSF) policy.

The detailed memorandum will be made available after it is handed over to DAFF.

Coastal Links South Africa represents 4 000 small-scale fishers countrywide and Masifundise Development Trust acts as its Secretariat.

 

Issued by Coastal Links South Africa and Masifundise Development Trust