Modulasetulo, ke re go Tona ...
English:
... the problem of poaching must be tackled systematically where there are multinational criminals illegally exploiting our marine resources. There are also South Africans from fishing communities across the country that have been denied opportunities to make a living from marine resources. What plans do you have in place to ensure that the exploitation of our marine resources is being done in a manner that is inclusive of communities that have been deprived of fishing for generations?
The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Thank you very
much, hon member. I think, first of all, you are absolutely right. One needs to make a distinction between those aspects of poaching that involve syndicated crime ... We know that, with regard to abalone poaching, there is definitely involvement of gangs and of syndicated crime, and there are definite reports that abalone poaching is linked to the narcotics trade.
We would also agree with you, and I think this relates to the answer that I gave to hon Maurencia, that part of the reason why you have so-called poaching is because, for generations, people who live in coastal communities have been denied their legitimate right to harvest food and commercial value from the sea. That is precisely why, over the last four months, we have prioritised the giving of rights to 10 000 small fisherpersons.
As I've already explained, the process in KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape is well underway. In the Western Cape I have visited fishing communities throughout the province and one of the issues that they have brought to my attention is that they do not feel that the process of registering them has been fair and transparent because the percentage of people who failed to be registered is considerably higher than those who succeeded in being
registered. As a result of that we have put in an independent audit so that we can make sure that where people have been excluded from the registration process, there are good reasons and that it isn't being done for nepotistic reasons.
However, it is our intention that those in the Western Cape who have already qualified should be given their rights in December, because what we understand is that the fishing season for these fishing people is a summer season and we would not want to delay the opportunity for them to fish in the current summer season.
Question 164:
The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Chairperson,
the support to local government for waste management matters aims to respond to the following problems: one, the lack of infrastructure and equipment; two, large service backlogs; three, inadequate planning for waste services; four, poor integration of industry waste management plans in the IDPs of municipalities; five, the profile of waste management is lower than the provision of other basic services; six, bylaws are not developed; and seven, there is an absence of appropriate and audited data.
Intergovernmental structures have been set up to ensure that co- operative governance mechanisms are implemented, to support local government, in order to improve waste management for the sustainable use of resources. These intergovernmental structures cover national, provincial, local and district level and give direct support to local government, where we have placed officials in all 44 district municipalities, to support both the district and the local municipalities.
In addition to that, we have undertaken the following interventions. Firstly, we are in the process of amending the MIG policy framework and these amendments should be tabled by March 2020. This will allow a situation where money that is allocated for the MIG is also used for the provision of waste services and not just for the provision of landfills and other infrastructure.
Secondly, we are assisting municipalities to develop and review their integrated waste management plans. We are providing annual capacity- building to municipal officials and councillors on various waste topics, depending on the training needs of each municipality.
Thirdly, we have also developed model waste bylaws so that municipalities can take those model bylaws and amend them for their
own situations. We are helping them to implement the Good Green Deeds programme, which was launched by President Ramaphosa in March and the idea of the Good Green Deeds Programme is, where we have huge build-ups and backlogs in waste collection, to conduct regular clean-up campaigns.
Furthermore, municipalities have also been assisted with the licensing of 328 unlicensed landfill sites, to develop a framework for compliance, and lastly, we have developed standard designs for material recovery facilities. The idea of these material recovery facilities is that these would be the buy-back centres where we would be encouraging members of the community to bring things like glass, plastic paper, and so on. Thank you.