Issued by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
14 February 2002
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has revoked the fishing rights of 11 individuals who were each granted a limited commercial abalone right in December 2001.
Ten of the right-holders were found to have falsified their home addresses in their application for fishing rights, claiming to live in the Walker Bay area -- the heart of the commercial abalone fishery -- when they actually lived in and around East London, an area where commercial fishing for abalone is not permitted. Another right-holder had a previous conviction for abalone poaching, an offence that he did not disclose in his application form. This was in addition to falsifying information on his application form.
The rights were revoked in terms of Section 28 of the Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998.
The head of the Department's Marine and Coastal Management branch, Horst Kleinschmidt, said the Department was investigating other right-holders who were believed to have falsified information on their application forms.
"The Department has committed itself to continuing the verification process throughout the medium-term period," said Mr Kleinschmidt.
For the first time in South Africa, fishing rights have been allocated for a medium-term period of two, four and 15 years, an initiative that is expected to encourage stability and investment in the fishing industry.
In an effort to ensure that only the most deserving fishers and fishing companies are allocated rights, the Department has instituted a tip-off hotline to facilitate the reporting of corruption and irregularities in the allocation of fishing rights.
The hotline allows people to report, anonymously, information about right-holders who misrepresented themselves in an effort to secure a fishing right.
The Tip-Offs Anonymous hotline number is 0800 116 110. The e-mail address is fishingrights@tip-offs.com.
The names of the 11 right-holders whose rights have been revoked are given below. They are all from the East London area:
Tyrone Sargint
Leslie Lockem
Timothy Collins
Justin Sargint
Monde Ngcenge
Errol Sargint
Tryshile Twani
Mavis Jantjies
Zwelinzima Ncula
Johnson Jincrow
Terrence Roebert