‘I thought I’m going to Lüderitz. I got to Vioolsdrif,” laments skipper Arthur Vaughan, who, after being abandoned at the Namibian border post, hitchhiked almost 200km back to Port Nolloth on the West Coast.
Vaughan and another skipper were meant to go and work on South Atlantic Fisheries Company (Safco) ships based in Lüderitz while the company tried to secure a licence for them to operate in South African waters.
But there were work permit snags on the Namibian side of the border. The company man, who collected them at their homes on Saturday evening, promised to return; he never did.
”My heart is not in its place any more,” Vaughan said bitterly. He was having second thoughts about fishing again for the company; he is still owed the visgeld — money paid per ton of fish caught — from his last stint.
A similar tale is told by a group of fishermen from Port Nolloth, an isolated West Coast dorp tied to the diamond business, where unemployment haunts almost every household.
They said they are so gatvol (fed up) about broken promises that they would speak out, despite being warned not to. ”They [Safco] are abusing our names” and ”they took our names and we have nothing” are frequent refrains.
All this despite Safco’s denial of claims, reported in the Mail & Guardian, that locals had either not been paid or paid only in part.
The fishermen’s story starts last year, when they answered an advertisement to work on large vessels from Port Nolloth. The ad was posted under the logo of the Fishing and Mariculture Development Company (Famda), a Section 21 company established to promote fishing and attract investment. At a subsequent meeting, their names and identity numbers were taken.
According to Safco and documents the M&G has seen, the idea was to establish joint venture companies between the Port Nolloth community and Cape Town-based Safco. These then applied for licences to fish for tuna and swordfish off the West Coast, and 11 were granted.
But the scheme ran into heavy waters with the Department of Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) and the circumstances surrounding applications remain controversial. While they had plans to build vessels, they did not have secure access to existing boats, a crucial requirement for deep pelagic fishing licences.
The role of Safco chairperson Chris Nissen in lobbying Northern Cape politicians such as Premier Dipuo Peters, and former premier Manne Dipico also raised eyebrows.
The companies with existing boats linked to their applications were not licensed. So the fleet was moved north, and now operates in Namibian waters. Nissen told the M&G that the move was forced by Safco’s need to service its large debt.
Since 1994, the fishing industry has been replete with cases of local communities being roped into joint ventures in a bid to establish empowerment credentials needed for quotas.
In April, the group of fishers and skippers boarded four Australian-bought Safco vessels in Cape Town and set off to Lüderitz to fish. Recounted Stanley Dubazane, ”We caught the fish. When we got back [to port] they gave us N$200.”
This happened several times. The fishermen insist the boats were full of ”Big Eye” (tuna) and swordfish, with plenty of shark fins. At month-end, everyone expected to be paid, but the men from Port Nolloth were told to pack up and be ready to board a bus — with just R300.
Back home they sought help at Famda: ”We walked the path to those offices flat,” said Deon Basson. Finally money was sent, but only R1 000, from which all advances were deducted.
That left Mafanayetsa Jan with nothing to show for five weeks’ work. He owes almost R14 000 in service arrears for his bare-walled cinder-brick house in Sizamile township.
Discontent among the 55 men who signed up for the joint venture has simmered for months. The long icy winter has meant none of the diamond jackpots that usually bring a buzz to the town, and the crayfish season has long passed.
Rumours that Safco bought a fish processing plant in Lüderitz, rather than, as promised, in Port Nolloth, and a plane to transport the fish directly overseas, are raising hackles. There are angry claims that Safco bought the ”wrong ships” from Australia — at 19m they are too short to meet South African standards, claim the men.
Nissen insists the vessels have been certified by South African authorities, and that the problem is the MCM’s reluctance to transfer the existing fishing licences to them. The department tightly controls the number of vessels it licenses, to limit illicit fishing.
Last Friday, Safco held another meeting. ”Only for those who are involved in the industry are welcome to attend,” read the notice — again under the Famda logo — in the shop window next to Queen’s bottle store in the main road.
According to a source who attended the stormy gathering, chaired by Safco’s lawyer Peter Williams, questions were raised about 225 promised permanent jobs, progress on transfer of licences to fish in South African waters, and profits and payments.
The fishermen say they were told Safco was already R50-million in debt — R20-million of it for the four vessels. About R780 000 had been spent on diesel and other expenses over three months on the ships that fished out of Lüderitz. ”There’s only expenses; there’s no information on income. But we discovered they made R8-million profit on the first trip,” exclaimed Gert Diergaardt.
According to the contract establishing one of these joint ventures, Four Arrows, if the business has fresh cash requirements and the community participants cannot fund their share, Safco can inject more cash in return for an increased equity stake.
Documents requested from Safco on the venture’s performance have come in dribs and drabs, in contrast with the rush to sign papers for fishing rights applications in early December. ”There’s always pressure. Quick, quick, quick,” said a Port Nolloth resident who refused to be named.
Swordfish and tuna fishing rights were awarded for 10 years at the start of the year. But the M&G has learnt that, as late as April this year, the finer details of Safco’s joint venture with the Port Nolloth community, including payouts, dividends and employment contracts, were still not finalised.
One visible sign of fishing in Port Nolloth is the number plate ”Mr Fish” on the luxury 4×4 of Joseph ”Vissie” Cloete, Richtersveld council manager. Cloete is a director on at least nine of the 10 joint venture vehicles. Denver Baron, Famda board secretary, is also frequently represented, as is Williams, who has close links to the Western Cape African National Congress. Other directors are Nissen; ANC Youth League member Lunga Ncwana; Sharif Pandor, husband of Education Minister Naledi Pandor and heavyweights from business magnate Brett Kebble’s former JCI empire, Gareth Griffiths and Sello Rasethaba.
Last Sunday, Vaughan drowned his sorrows with wife Laura in his sandy backyard. ”I’m used to seeing a slip with his monthly wages on. I don’t see a slippie to see how much he earns,” she shrugged. ”The company says they’ll work it out. The men don’t know for what they worked.”