Hon Chairperson, fishing communities are suffering tremendously. My experience with them has made me realise that government is failing them dismally. Today I want to dedicate my speech to the fishing community of Paternoster. Recently two fishermen from Paternoster got lost at sea for three days. Christie and his son Brenden had to suffer this hardship and near-death experience because of the ill-defined and badly conceptualised policies of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Ek wil vandag vir Christie en Brenden Jordaan, die twee vissermanne wat weggeraak het ... [Applous.] ... en na drie angswekkende dae op see in dik misweer teruggevind is, verwelkom. By hulle is hul vrou en moeder, Brenda, wat self drie dae beproef is, en ander vissers, Peter Coraizen, Naomie en Clive.
Hierdie mense is die sout van die aarde en is hoogs gespesialiseerde vakmanne op die gebied van visvang. Hulle spandeer die grootste gedeelte van hul lewens op die see. Hulle is Suid-Afrika se vissermanne, maar in die nuwe Suid-Afrika word hulle gesien as plakkers, "poachers" en armlastig. Hierdie mense van Paternoster is moeg gebaklei om hul lewenstandaard te handhaaf. Hul kinders en families ervaar die vernietigende effek van die wetgewing van die departement.
Paternoster en sy vissermanne is 'n hegte gemeenskap wat saam bly is as die vis loop, en saam huil as hulle vissermanne en kinders nie weer van die see af terugkeer nie. Elke dag trotseer hulle die gevaarlike waters van die see om kos op die tafel te sit, om 'n ekstra geldjie te probeer verdien om hul kinders skool toe te stuur en om mediese hulp te kry as hulle siek is. Hulle het agteruit gegaan in die nuwe Suid-Afrika, en word nou geklassifiseer as "poachers" en kriminele.
Agb Minister, hoekom word hul hoogs gespesialiseerde kennis nog nie erken nie, en hoekom het u nie hul hande gevat om hul menswaardigheid terug te gee nie? Hulle vra regtig nie so baie nie. Voorsitter, u het vandag my versekering dat ek dit my missie gaan maak, en gaan baklei dat die bloed in hierdie Parlement loop, om die onreg teen hierdie vissersgemeenskappe reg te stel. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Today I want to welcome Christie and Brenden Jordaan, the two fishermen who disappeared ... [Applause.] ... and were rescued after three terrifying days at sea in thick misty weather. With them is their wife and mother, Brenda, who herself was tried for three days, and other fishers, Peter Coraizen, Naomie and Clive.
These people are the salt of the earth and are highly specialised craftsmen in the area of fishing. They spend the biggest part of their lives at sea. They are South Africa's fishermen, but in the new South Africa they are seen as squatters, poachers and as indigent. These people from Paternoster are tired of fighting to sustain their standard of living. Their children and families experience the devastating effect of the department's legislation.
Paternoster and its fishermen is a tightly knit community who laugh together when the fish is available, and cry together when their fishermen and children do not return from the sea. Every day they defy the dangerous waters of the sea to put food on the table, to try to earn an extra bit of money to send their children to school, and to get medical assistance when they fall ill. Their situation deteriorated in the new South Africa, and they are now classified as poachers and criminals.
Hon Minister, why is their highly specialised expertise not recognised, and why didn't you take their hands to give them back their human dignity? They do not really ask very much. Chairperson, today you have my guarantee that I am going to make it my mission, and I am going to fight until the blood runs in this Parliament, to rectify the injustice these fishing communities were done.]
Firstly, I will fight for these fishermen to be recognised for the highly specialised tasks that they perform. They must be recognised for the important role they play with regard to food security in South Africa. [Applause.] We need to recognise their skills and give them recognition for prior learning against existing unit standards.
We must get schooling institutions to incorporate fishing in their curriculum as a subject. Schools in coastal areas must make it interesting for learners to remain in school and the further education and training institutions that have a model focused on agriculture should be extended to cover fisheries. I will go out and engage with the industry to ensure that training and assessment are accredited and delivered locally.
Furthermore, local experts should be trained and employed as assessors in order to ensure authentic expertise. Local indigenous knowledge should be consulted in the generation and development of new and further unit standards.
Secondly, I will fight to remove the restrictions of office hours on our fishermen. Did you know that this department and yes, you, hon Minister, has made a law that you may only catch fish during office hours ... [Laughter.] ... as the inspectors only work during office hours? Hon Minister, I ask you. How is it possible to expect fishermen to work only during office hours? The tide, wind, mist and fish do not keep office hours and do not listen to your commands. The fish actually bite very early in the morning and the wind is at its calmest at two am. This is the time when fishermen all over the world usually go out to sea. Usually by the time the hon Minister wakes up, the fishermen are already on their way back home. This is now punishable with a fine of R2 000. It's a disgrace!
Thirdly, Minister, you have stopped the fishermen from catching more than one species per trip. What happens now is that the fisherman has to decide beforehand what it is that he wants to catch. If it is rock lobster, he must take his nets, while if he goes out for line fishing, he is not allowed to have his nets on board. So, if the fish don't bite during the day, he cannot drop his nets on his way home to catch some rock lobster, as he has been doing all his life. This makes it virtually uneconomical to fish for the 167 kg that you have decided they must live on. The petrol price is up and this has forced them to steal more just to survive and to pay for petrol, which incidentally includes many levies for roads and the Road Accident Fund, of which they have no benefit.
Minister, you will say that they can claim it back from the SA Revenue Service, Sars, but this 167 kg of rock lobster would translate to approximately R25 000 a year, and that wouldn't qualify them to claim back from tax. If one subtracts the cost of going to sea and buying petrol, one will be left with only R10 000. Nobody can live, and send their children to school and hospital, on such a pittance. This must be looked at again. I suggest that 500 kg per year will go some way in resolving this problem and will be sufficient in this day and age.
Dit bring my nou by die nuwe Kleinskaalse Vissersbeleid wat voorgestel word. Die Minister wil h dat daar weer teruggegaan moet word na koperasies, wat ons al telkemale in Suid-Afrika probeer het, en nie werk nie. Sy wil nie regtig na die welstand van die vissers omsien nie. Sy wil h dat hulle hul kwotas in een pot moet gooi en dan weer moet gaan baklei vir hul eie deel. Dan wil sy verder h dat hulle die bietjie geld wat hulle verdien met die hele gemeenskap moet deel om sodoende almal 'n stukkie te gee. Hierdie plan is gedoem om te faal, soos die geskiedenis ons geleer het.
Verder gaan die agb Minister regstreeks teen die bevinding en aanbeveling van die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan en di van hierdie komitee, soos gedoen op 16 Mei 2012 en deur hierdie Parlement bekragtig is, om nie koperasies in te stel nie. Hoe durf sy dink dat sy beter as die vissermanne en hierdie Parlement weet wat die beste is!
Die visie van die nuwe beleid is dat meer mense regte gaan kry en dat dit al die maatskaplike probleme van die land gaan oplos. Dit is beloftes wat u gemaak het, Minister, en die verwagting is nou gevestig. Die realiteit is egter dat die visvoorraad onder geweldige druk is en dat die kwotas alreeds te min is. Kan u ons miskien antwoord en meedeel waar hierdie klomp vis vandaan gaan kom wat u belowe het, of gaan u die kwotas kleiner maak as wat dit nou is?
Daar is 'n ou Chinese gesegde wat lui: Gee 'n man 'n vis, dan voer jy hom vir 'n dag. As jy hom 'n visstok gee om mee vis te vang, dan kan hy homself voer vir 'n leeftyd. Ongelukkig het die Minister, soos die meeste mense van Suid-Afrika maak sodra hulle ryk word, geleerd is en 'n magsposisie beklee, haar rug op haar eie mense gedraai en gerieflikheidshalwe vergeet waar sy vandaan kom. [Applous.]
Dit sal my missie wees om die vissermanne te bemagtig om hulself uit hulle armoede te haal en van die welsynsisteem af te haal sodat hulle na hulself en hul families kan omsien, om sodoende hul menswaardigheid te kan terugeis en soos die meeste Suid-Afrikaners trotse patriotte te wees.
Agb Minister, dit was duidelik te veel van u gevra. Indien u regtig wou, sou u met die mag wat u nou tot u beskikking het, die situasie maklik kon verander. Waarom het u dit nie verander nie? Kan u dit aan die mense van Paternoster verduidelik in plaas daarvan om van politiek te praat en almal behalwe uself te blameer? Politiek kan nie gevang word nie. Politiek kan nie verhandel word nie. Politiek kan nie geet word nie.
Ons verwelkom gister se aankondiging dat die kommentaarleweringsdatum en publieke deelnameprosesse tot 14 Junie uitgestel is. Mag ek verder vra dat die departement alle regte vissersgemeenskappe aan die kusdorpe, insluitend Paternoster, gaan besoek en uitvind wat dit is wat hulle verwag en wil h van die Kleinskaalse Vissersbeleid.
Die DA verwelkom ook die nuus dat Minister Rob Davies gestuur is om die Departement van landbou, Bosbou en Visserye te red van totale ondergang aan die hand van die agb Minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson. Graag wil ons die hoop uitspreek dat die take wat hy reeds oorgeneem het nou beter gehanteer sal word in die belang van die vissersgemeenskappe. Ons kan u verder die versekering gee dat ons hierdie verwikkelinge met 'n valkoog gaan dophou, en ons gaan u aan u beloftes hou wat u vandag hier gemaak het. Ons soek waarborge. Ons soek vis. Ons soek kos om te eet. Dankie, agb Voorsitter. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[It brings me now to the issue of the new Small-Scale Fisheries Policy that is being proposed. The Minister wants a return to co-operations, which we have tried over and over again in South Africa and which do not work. She does not really want to look after the welfare of the fishers. She wants them to put their quotas in one pot and have them then fight again for their own portion. Then she wants to see that they share the little money they earn with the entire community, in so doing giving everyone a little bit. This plan is doomed to fail, as history has shown.
Furthermore, the Minister goes directly against the finding and proposal of the National Development Plan and that of this committee, made on 16 May 2012 and approved by this Parliament, not to establish co-operations. How dare she think that she knows better than the fishers and this Parliament what is best!
The vision of the new policy is that more people are going to get rights and that it is going to solve all the social problems of the country. These are promises that you made, Minister, and the expectation has been created. The reality is, however, that the fish supply is under severe pressure and that there are too few quotas as it is. Can you perhaps give an answer and tell us where this huge amount of fish is going to come from which you promised, or are you going to reduce the quotas to less than they are now?
There is an old Chinese saying which goes: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. If you give him a fishing rod to catch fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime. Unfortunately the Minister has, like most South Africans do as soon as they have become rich and educated and hold a position of power, turned her back on her own people and conveniently forgotten where she comes from. [Applause.]
It will be my mission to empower the fishermen to free themselves from poverty and from the welfare system so that they can look after themselves and their families, in so doing claiming back their human dignity and, like most South Africans, be proud patriots.
Hon Minister, clearly too much has been asked of you. If you really wanted to do so, you could easily have changed the situation with the power at your disposal. Why didn't you change it? Can you explain it to the people of Paternoster instead of talking politics and blaming everybody else but yourself? Politics cannot be caught. Politics cannot be traded. Politics cannot be eaten.
We welcome yesterday's announcement that the date for public comments and participation processes has been postponed until 14 June. May I further ask that the department from now on visit all real fishing communities in the coastal towns, including Paternoster, and find out what they expect and want from the Small-Scale Fishing Policy.
The DA also welcomes the news that Minister Rob Davies was sent to save the Department of Fisheries from total collapse while it was in the hands of hon Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. We would like to express the hope that the tasks he has already taken over will now be handled better and in the interests of the fishing communities. We can furthermore give you the assurance that we will be watching these developments with an eagle eye, and we are going to force you to keep your promises that you have made here today. We want guarantees. We want fish. We want food to eat. Thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]]