Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Pieter van Dalen MP, during the Budget Vote on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Agbare Voorsitter,
Graag wil ek die vissermanne en vroue in die gallery welkom heet hier in die Parlement.
Hulle is die sout van die aarde. Hulle ken visvang en het grootgeword in vissersfamilies. Hulle is die mense wat tot armoede gevonnis is deur U en die Departement se beleide.
Terwyl u nog lekker lê en slaap in weelde om vier-uur die oggend gaan hulle see toe om kos op die tafel te sit vir hulle families.
Hulle ken niks anders nie. Hulle is die mense wat u gefaal het.
Hierdie vissermanne behoort aan ‘n hegte familie wat saam bly is as die vis byt. Dan deel hulle met die hele gemeenskap. Hulle huil ook saam as een van hulle nie terugkeer van die see af nie.
Ons baklei ook saam as iemand ons onregverdig behandel.
That is why, Honourable Minister, I have invited the fishing communities to join me today. So that you can hear the plight of our fisher family.
A family to which you and the honourable members of this committee also belong.
As the Minister, you assume a father figure role. The father is the head of this family and can be strict and firm with the discipline.
The role of the mother is assumed by the officials of the Department, including the Director-General (DG) and Deputy Director-General (DDG). The mother is meant to nurture and show equal love and sympathy to all her children. A mother listens and is the cornerstone of any family.
We also have a Grandmother whose role is assumed by the Portfolio Committee and the Chairperson. The grandmother performs an oversight role. She is a safe haven for them all. She does not pick sides. She does what is good for the whole family.
That is a basic family.
Unfortunately, ours is a dysfunctional family.
In our family, the father fails to provide equal protection to all members of the fishing community. By taking away their right to fish the Minister has with the stroke of a pen sentenced 800 fishermen and women in this sector to a life of poverty where their children will go to bed hungry.
The mother is not any better. She too has failed our family. The DDG has shown disregard to the plight and the cries of the communities who feel prejudiced by the fishing allocations process. The DDG, by reducing the fishing quotas by 90%, has condemned these communities to a life of hunger and poverty.
Instead of ensuring that these communities are fed, the Minister’s Department, has instead chosen to feed the patronage system. Both the mother and father of this family have acted against the very people who depend on them.
But what about the Committee. What have we, as the Grandmother, done to comfort and solve the problems of these fishing communities?
Nothing.
Fish depletion or scarcity of fish resources are no longer the single biggest threat to the fishing industry.
The Department of Fisheries is the most dangerous threat to the fishing industry. They don’t seem to know that they are playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives.
Agbare Voorsitter,
Hierdie is ‘n baie emosionele onderwerp en graag wil ons by u hoor hoe u hierdie problem gaan aanspreek.
U kan nie net bloot u skouers optrek nie. Verduidelik asseblief vir hierdie vissermanne, u familie, teenwoordig wat u gaan doen om hierdie humanitêre ramp af te weer?
Om net van die een te steel en vir die ander te gee is nie die oplossing nie. U moet n regverdige vader wees. Dit is tog u plig.