Cape Town - A 65-year-old woman who founded a Lambert’s Bay fishing company has called for a well-known industry consultant to be removed from the Fisheries Minister’s advisory panel due to what she calls a conflict of interest.
Lya Louw, founder of Meermin Visserye CC in Lambert’s Bay, on the West Coast, believes that Shaheen Moolla, who heads up Feike Natural Resource Management Advisers, should not be on the Ministerial Appeals Advisory Panel which deals with appeals arising out of the 2013 Fishing Rights Allocation Process (Frap).
Louw says that Moolla, who heads up the panel, will not be unbiased in his decision-making as his family has interests in the fishing industry.
In October last year, Western Cape High Court acting Judge Chuma Cossie cancelled a R4 million sale agreement between Meermin and respondents Ashraf Davids, and Shereen Mathir - Moolla’s wife.
The panel was announced by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana last month, with Moolla appointed as one of three outside individuals independent of the department, along with Professor Julian Smith and Mamakhe Mdhluli.
On Wednesday, Steve Galane, Zokwana’s spokesperson, told the Cape Times: “Minister indicated that Shaheen is working with two other people, Professor Julian Smith and attorney (Ms) Mamakhe Mdhluli, and for the mere fact that Advocate Moolla is not working alone, the issue of him being biased does not stand.”
However, Louw claims Moolla does have a conflict of interest.
Moolla told the Cape Times that Davids and Mathir had lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Moolla’s association with Meermin started in 2012, when they approached him for assistance to manage a 15-year fishing quota for sardines and anchovy that they had been awarded by the department of fisheries in 2006.
Louw told the Cape Times that Moolla was Meermin’s legal representative for the sale agreement, and Louw said the fact that Moolla’s wife was one of the respondents represented a clear conflict of interest with regards to the sale agreement.
“Shaheen must be out of the department. He can’t be an adviser to the minister.
“And a lot of people here in Lambert’s Bay would say the same thing,” she said.
“We never knew that it was his wife who was one of the purchasers. Only in the court case did we find that out. The people involved in Meermin are finding life very tough. Many of us don’t have husbands, and those who do, have to look after their husbands. And we can’t move forward as we are waiting for the appeal.”
Moolla said that he doesn’t believe that having his family involved in the fishing industry is a problem.
Moolla denied that he was Meermin’s legal representative in the sale agreement.
“In the Meermin transaction, I served as a legal adviser in the matter and prepared the agreements and related documents to give effect to the transaction.
“She (Louw) is of course welcome to show any evidence of where I was appointed by her or any of the members to act on their behalf,” he said.
“Once again, Davids’s affidavit, which states that I was appointed by him to prepare the agreements and advise on the transaction, is not contradicted by Louw in any court papers.
“There is nothing that prevents my family from investing in the fishing industry as it is a sector we understand and know.
“It’s akin to saying that bankers should not be investing in financial institution shares or an investor not buying fishing quotas because there is some unknown and unwritten rule making investing in the fishing industry some deviant activity.”
Naseegh Jaffer, the director of Masifundise Development Trust which helps local fishing communities to organise themselves and become empowered, told the Cape Times that it was “blatantly wrong” for Moolla to be part of the advisory panel in light of the Meermin case.
“At the time, Meermin was given fishing rights when they shouldn’t have been. They were made the victims of a bad policy from government, and Moolla was part of drafting that policy (when working for government previously),” Jaffer said.
“It is blatantly wrong for Moolla to be on the advisory panel, as there is a conflict of interest.” Galane said Moolla had been appointed because of his knowledge and experience in the fishing sector.
“He (Zokwana) indicated that fishing communities have been complaining that the department is doing nothing to correct the anomalies of 2013/14 Frap issues, (and) now that Daff (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) is doing something, there are those who want to derail the progress made thus far.
“The Minister is happy with the work of the Appeals Advisory Team that has started working on the appeals. The team has met with the minister and would meet on a regular basis. The panel has already adjudicated on the KZN PT (Prawn Trawl fishery policy). Minister Zokwana would like to see this process coming to finalisation.”
Cape Times