The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has stepped in to intervene following concerns by indigenous fishing communities from areas in Ladismith and around the Kannaland Municipality that some farmers were denying them access to the nearby Gamka River where they fish with valid permits to put food on their tables.
According to DWS their intervention stemmed from a quarterly meeting held in November last year, where local subsistence fishermen from Zoar in Ladismith raised this issue, citing an incident where a farmer allegedly punctured the tyres of a bakkie belonging to one of the fishermen.
Following the meeting, DWS said it acted swiftly by calling a meeting between the farmers and fishers to resolve the matter where it came to light that the problem was happening in many areas including Vanwyksdorp, Ladismith and Calitzdorp.
On January 24 and 25, DWS officials together with the Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) and other stakeholders met with farmers and fishers to discuss the matter.
According to the department, farmers raised concerns about possible risks to their properties, while subsistence fishers said they were an organised club guided by rules and regulations and had a right to fish.
Daniel Joon, chairperson of a local fishing club in Zoar said: “I was born next to that river, this is our way of life for generations. We've been trying for years to get access to the river but they refuse. We pay fishing licences every year.”
When contacted for comment, one of the farmers told the “Cape Times” he would not comment on the matter and that CapeNature was managing the matter on their behalf.
CapeNature did not respond to requests for comment by deadline on Tuesday.
DWS spokesperson, Sandile Mawela said: “The department’s position is that water, in this case, rivers where the people are fishing, is a common resource for everybody. In this case, people should talk to each other, tolerate each other because now fishers want to cross to go to the river.”
Masifundise programme manager Carmen Mannarino said they were seeing this issue across the country.
“Overall we are seeing an issue of water being a public good and inland fishers having right to livelihoods and having a right to be there and this right being diminished because access through the land is a challenge. While government has developed policy, there are still many steps that will need to take place. Including legislation reform at provincial and national level to recognise the rights of small scale fishers and to therefore amend provincial nature conservation acts that would determine and impact on the access,” she said.
Human rights activist Tauriq Jenkins added that water is not just a commodity, “it is a way of life for indigenous communities”.
Cape Times