This article first appeared in the 30 June 2022 edition of the Cape Argus newspaper.
Cape Town - Radio West Coast (RWC) and the South African United Fishing Front (SAUFF) hosted Allan Boesak on their 3-day humanitarian fishing tour, where he addressed some issues raised by the local fishing community.
Local fishermen of the Fishing Rights Allocation Process (FRAP), have felt that the FRAP has tried to push them into poverty and to the periphery and that they are favouring commercial companies.
Francois Julius, managing director of Radio West Coast, a community radio covering the West Coast District, said the programme was launched to help listen to the pleas of the local fishing community.
“After having been inundated with complaints and queries from local fishermen on the DAFF Fishing Rights Allocation Process, our station decided to produce a programme titled ‘Die Hartklop van die Visser’.
“This programme has flown for the past eight weeks.
“During this time, we’ve heard many heartwrenching stories of how traditional fishers and their families are being marginalised and even criminalised due to the FRAP,” he said.
The main aim of the “Die Hartklop van die Visser” programme asks for the redistribution of resources back to the fishermen and coastal communities.
Allan Boesak addressed the issues that emerged out of the programme.
He wanted to engage with ordinary fishermen in their communities to better understand their plight, despair and hopelessness.
Issues highlighted included a clearing and restructuring of FRAP, a testing of the court systems to establish whether true justice is being delivered to the marginalised and the vulnerable, not only the rich and the powerful. and to approach big companies on the people's terms.
“We are mobilising to exploit every possible option to bring these matters to the attention of government and the broader public.
“While the fishing community has specific struggles, these are positioned inside the broader narrative and the crisis in which South Africa finds itself presently.
“We are seeking systemic change and not cosmetic,” Boesak said.
They are looking to be heard in their plight for a more just process and to want restorative justice for the persistent humanitarian crisis of poverty.