South Africa’s Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson exhorted Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) members to protect the transformation of the fishing industry, and took a moment to fire a broadside at the Democratic Alliance (DA) and publicly issue instructions to a senior public servant.
The minister delivered an off-the-cuff speech on Friday to Fawu members at a fishing-sector bargaining council conference in Cape Town.
She said amendments to the Marine Living Resources Act passed in the National Assembly last week would transform the fishing sector, as small-scale fishers would for the first time be allowed to form co-operatives and develop a sustainable fishing model.
She also said the time was right for a fishing bargaining council to be established to negotiate wages in the sector. At present, minimum wages are set through a sectoral determination made by the minister of labour.
“For the first time in its (the sector’s) history there is now a closer relationship between the state, business and the people,” Ms Joemat-Pettersson said.
According to the minister, the draft law still to be processed by the National Council of Provinces would allow small-scale fishers, including co-operatives and small and medium-sized enterprises, to market their produce and help determine prices, irrespective of the species they catch.
However, she warned that while the government was in favour of setting up a pricing mechanism, it did not want to fall foul of the competition authorities.
Another aspect of the draft law is that fishing licence holders would not be allowed to resell their licences, as happened in the past.
“They (the licences) are (awarded) on a use-it-or-lose-it basis,” she said.
Ms Joemat-Pettersson thanked Oceana CEO Francois Kuttel for his leadership and input during the negotiations leading up to the drafting of the amendments to the act.
“This is the first time I have heard Fawu clap for a white person,” she said, after mentioning Mr Kuttel.
She also praised deputy director-general of fisheries Desmond Stevens for drafting the bill and instructed him to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises were included in the R350,000-per-project grants available from the Department of Trade and Industry for developing marine and aquaculture enterprises, and that a transformation council for the fishing sector was set up.
Mr Stevens, who is also an office bearer in the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association a fact mentioned by the minister was told to ensure that such a council included communities involved in fishing as well as unions and the industry.
Ms Joemat-Pettersson’s broadside at the DA was aimed directly at that party’s MP Pieter van Dalen. She said he had called her small-scale fisheries policy moribund, yet he had voted in favour of the bill.
The minister described the DA as comedians because they had “vehemently opposed the bill” and then voted in favour of it.
She also called for a monument to be built for fishers lost at sea and for whom there were no graves.
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