Chairperson, the Minister has again emphasised her department's commitment to realising their job creation goals. Talk is cheap. We need more. The Minister must give us a structured and well- planned synopsis on how the department intends to deliver on its goals.
Ek kan nie sien dat hierdie departement se doelstellings ooit bereik sal word nie. Ons sal moet sien wat die resultaat daarvan sal wees. Tel egter hierby die feit dat die departement sukkel om persone met die nodige kennis en ervaring in diens te neem, en die prentjie word al hoe donkerder. Wat word gedoen om die meer as 700 ongevulde poste in die direktoraat te vul, waarvan 60% in hoogs gespesialiseerde velde is? (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[I can't see that this department's goals will ever be achieved. We will have to see what the result will be. However, add to this the fact that the department is struggling to employ people with the necessary know-how and experience, and the picture becomes more and more bleak. What is being done to fill the more than 700 vacant posts in the directorate, 60% of which are in highly specialised fields?]
The fisheries programme's budget will increase by 9,1% in real terms. Is this enough to address the challenges of underfunding of fisheries? What has been done regarding understaffing under this programme? In a newspaper today the ANC MP Salam Abram agrees with the community of the West Coast that the department is in tatters. I agree with the fact that the Minister might be very important and hands-on in terms of agriculture, but in the fishing sector she is failing dismally. [Interjections.]
Visserye is die enigste sektor binne die departement wat 'n rele daling in die begroting toon. Sal die departement kan uitvoering gee aan sy mandaat, dit ook in die lig van die grootskaalse vakatures in die departement? In alle insette in die direktoraat is dit duidelik dat die departement die afgelope drie jaar reeds sukkel om die visseryehandves - the Fishing Charter - van stapel te stuur. Uit die voorstelle wat ter tafel gel is tydens die laaste vergadering van die gekose komitee met die departement het dit duidelik geword dat die "sny en plak" roete gevolg gaan word met die handves vir visserye.
Dit is verstommend om die departement se besluit oor finansile hulpverlening aan kommersile boere te sien, dit na afloop van verwoestende vloede in groot dele van ons land. Boere sukkel letterlik en figuurlik om kop bo water te hou. Dit is dieselfde boere wat ook ons nasie moet voed. Ons bevestig net weereens aan boere wat hulself reeds hervestig het in die res van Afrika, of wat van plan is om dit te doen, dat dit die regte besluit is. Voedselsekerheid word bedreig, maar dit lyk nie of die departement werklik ernstig is nie.
Ek praat as 'n Weskuskind en 'n Weskusklong. In die Weskus - die deel van die Wes-Kaap wat 80% van die aktiwiteite van die visserybedryf beslaan - ervaar ons armoede, werkloosheid en ongeletterdheid. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Fisheries is the only sector within the department where the budget is showing a real decrease. Will the department be able to carry out its mandate, taking into account the extent of the vacancies within the department? It is clear from all the inputs with regard to the directorate that the department has already been struggling to launch the Fishing Charter for the past three years. From the proposals that were tabled during the last meeting of the select committee with the department it became clear that the "cut and paste" route will be followed with the Fishing Charter.
It is shocking to observe the department's decision on financial support to commercial farmers, following the devastating floods in large parts of our country. Farmers are struggling literally and figuratively to keep their heads above water. These are the same farmers who also have to feed our nation. We are simply confirming once again to farmers who have already relocated to other parts of Africa, or who are planning to do so, that it is the right decision. Food security is being threatened, but the department does not really seem to be serious about it.
I speak as a someone who was born and bred in the West Coast, and as a "Weskusklong". On the West Coast - the part of the Western Cape comprising 80% of the activities of the fishing industry - we are experiencing poverty, unemployment and illiteracy.]
In the aquaculture sector, which is a relatively new sector, transformation doesn't exist. Only unskilled labour is the order of the day in the aquaculture sector. [Time expired.]