Plan to probe BEE credentials alarms fishing industry

The ruling has brought to the fore questions whether the fishing sector, whose BEE charter is yet to be concluded, is doing enough about transformation and BEE compared with peers in forestry and agriculture.

It is understood that Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson's reaction to the ruling might lead to the department assessing the levels of adherence to BEE licensing conditions of the fishing rights of companies.

Rams Mabote, special adviser to the minister, said last week that although she had a right in law to withdraw fishing rights if companies had changed their BEE credentials contrary to the conditions of the granting of such rights, "she does not have any intention to necessarily withdraw Foodcorp's rights or those of any other company that could be found to be guilty of similar acts".

He said Joemat-Pettersson had the responsibility to make sure that the country's transformation processes were adhered to in the interest of making sure that more South Africans had a share in the country's national resources.

"This is not nationalisation as argued by those who don't want transformation," Mabote said.

Sea Harvest MD George Bezuidenhout said last week the fishing industry was one of the most transformed, arguing that any reallocation from rights holders would result in shedding jobs.

"Distinction also needs to be made between near-shore fisheries (such as abalone and line fish) which can be accessed by coastal communities on the one hand, and deep-sea species which require sophisticated vessels and factories and huge capital investment," he said.

Bezuidenhout also blamed politicians for having made unrealistic promises to impoverished coastal communities and they now had an "unenviable task" of allocating a limited fishing resource to a growing population suffering increasing unemployment.

"There is no doubt the plight of these communities is dire, but there simply is not enough fish in the sea to satisfy all the demand and therefore no matter where they turn someone is going to be dissatisfied."

Source: Business Day