Fishers don’t want Moolla on panel

Cape Town-140128-Press Club, Spin Street hoseted Shaheen Moolla, legal adviser for line fishermen who lost their rights on January 1, has revealed the strategy which will underpin a High Court bid to have government's Fishing Rights Allocation Process (Frap) declared illegal.-Reporter-Daneel-Photographer-Tracey Adams

Cape Town-140128-Press Club, Spin Street hoseted Shaheen Moolla, legal adviser for line fishermen who lost their rights on January 1, has revealed the strategy which will underpin a High Court bid to have government's Fishing Rights Allocation Process (Frap) declared illegal.-Reporter-Daneel-Photographer-Tracey Adams

Published Jul 5, 2015

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Cape Town - Small-scale fishers from several communities this week said they would confront Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana over his appointment last month of Shaheen Moolla to a three-member independent appeals panel set up to advise on appeals arising out of the 2013 fishing rights allocation.

A letter of objection sent to the department last week by a small-scale fishers organisation called for an urgent meeting with Zokwana and listed reasons, including allegations of impropriety, for their objection to Moolla’s appointment.

Deputy director-general Siphokazi Ndudane acknowledged receipt of an e-mail from the organisation, but was sanguine on the appointment of Moolla to join fellow advisers Professor Julian Smith and Mamakhe Mdhluli on a panel slotted to review appeals lodged against the 2013 fishing rights allocation process.

“The recent allocation of fishing rights… was shown to have been far from compliant with our laws and for this reason, the minister has deemed it necessary to seek the legal counsel of persons with the experience and those thought to add value such as advocate Shaheen Moolla,” Ndudane said.

Hendrik Latola, president of the 4 000-strong National Federation of Small-Scale Fishers, said its members would challenge Moolla’s suitability for the position because of their experience with him while he was a senior official, his public declarations on fisheries policy and because his presence on the panel could undermine efforts to empower small-scale fishers and fishing communities.

“Shaheen Moolla has worked for the very same department in a very strategic position during the previous transformation period and failed dismally to transform the lives of ordinary fishers.”

Moolla called this allegation baseless, citing “exceptional levels of transformation and empowerment achieved during the 2001 and 2005 fishing right allocation processes”.

He also challenged other contentious aspects of the federation’s letter which noted: “During crucial allocation rights processes while Moolla was at the helm of the department, thousands of poor legitimate fishers were isolated.

“His refusal to co-operate and work with fishing communities and civil society groups to address the allocation shortcomings between 2001-2003 resulted in the now famous Equality Court verdict, hence Moolla was directly responsible for the current stand-off between government and the fishing communities.”

The newly appointed appeals panel member said he had left the employ of Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) in 2005 and “was never at the helm of fisheries”.

He also blamed others for the conflict with fishing communities. “The stand-off that resulted in the Equality Court matter and judgment (2007) was caused by Monde Mayekiso who was deputy director-general of MCM between March 2005 and December 2010.”

The fishers also expressed concern that Moolla’s presence on the panel could undermine “the gains of the transformation process”.

“The 2013 rights allocation process by far is the most significant indicator about government’s own seriousness in terms of transforming the small-scale fishing sector in that it began to set aside quantum for the actual implementation process. Without the availability of terms and conditions the small scale cannot be implemented.

“Moolla’s view with regard to small scale is widely documented and he is opposed to any system which attempt to empower the poorest of the poor.”

Moolla, is adamant in his view that the 2013 rights allocation process “has been an unlawful process”.

However, his fishing resources management consultancy, Feike, labelled the draft small-scale fisheries policy “a recipe for failure”.

“In terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, co-operatives cannot be allocated fishing rights, and for good reason, as the practice in South Africa and abroad has shown that they do not work.

“Further, the notion of the fishing community is a fallacy today. They may have existed between the mid 16th and 20th centuries, but definitely not today,” the Feike document stated.

This position appears to be one of the lightning rods that has rallied the federation and even internationally respected fishing community advocacy groups against Moolla.

Naseegh Jaffer, spokesman son for Masifundisi Development Trust, which does extensive work in poor coastal communities, slated Moolla for “having a poor track record with fishing communities” and said that his appointment by the fisheries minister “boggles the mind”.

The other issue that appears to have riled the small-scale fishers is that, as a consultant, Moola is perceived by some as favouring the interests of large-scale fisheries, and that he started doing business in the same sector immediately after leaving his position at Marine and Coastal Management.

“It is commonly known that upon leaving the Department of Fisheries, Moolla distinguished himself as a consultant in the very same field, providing advice and assistance to industrial fishing entities and therefore Moolla remains a servant of big business in the fishing sector. It is therefore a fact that many of the entities that will need re-verification in terms of his mandate might have been his clients and the question of objectivity becomes a reality,” Jaffer said.

Public information on Feike shows it provides legal and environmental services to Cape Nature, the national Department of Environmental Affairs, a number of South Africa’s largest commercial fishing companies, operators in the South African boat-based whale watching and white shark cage-diving sectors, foreign fishing companies and fishing industry bodies.

It is specifically the fact that major fishing entities are on Moolla’s client base that seems to have drawn Cosatu into the fray. Tony Ehrenreich, the labour federation’s Western Cape secretary, said Cosatu opposed Moolla’s appointment to the appeals panel “because of his associations with the fishing industry bosses”.

Moolla said his brief from the minister “is to provide strategic legal and fisheries management-related advice to the minister who is charged with evaluating and deciding all appeals lodged by dissatisfied… applicants.”

He denied any conflict of interest could arise from his associations with players in the industry. “I do not represent any current appellant or right holder in the SA fishing industry who is involved in any of the eight fishing sectors subject to appeal. I have confirmed in writing to the fisheries minister and to his department that no such conflict exists.” – Additional reporting by Ivor Powell

Weekend Argus

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