Madam Deputy Speaker, marine and coastal management failed to finalise a subsistence fishing policy by the end of June. Therefore, there are once again going to be permits issued to small-scale fishers under the interim relief dispensation as required by the Equality Court ruling.
The process of allocation this year has been random and unfair. Many traditional fishers who benefited from the allocation in the last few years have been left out. When deciding which individuals should get access to permits under the interim relief dispensation, fairness and transparency must prevail. Allocations should go to people who have personally been traditional fishers and who did not benefit from the medium- and long-term fishing rights allocations. Hence, the interim relief allocations must go to deserving fishers.
While many, if not most, of the fishers who benefit are deserving, there are others who obtain interim relief merely because they are politically well connected or because they make the most noise. Take for example Hawston. There is outrage in this fishing community from many people who have a long history of fishing and who have received interim relief previously but have now been passed over for people who have no history as fishers or have very tenuous links to the fishing sector. This interim relief was intended to alleviate hardships for traditional fishers and not to make it more difficult for them.
The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs must urgently review the policy that dictated who was awarded these permits and Marine and Coastal Management, MCM, must come before Parliament to explain the exact criteria used to determine why certain applicants for these permits were successful and why others were not. At the moment the system is indefensible, and the fishers of Hawston have every reason to be angry. I thank you.