Some youth in the fishing industry say they don’t have much to celebrate this Youth Month, and they need more help from the President.
In the aftermath of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to youth on 16 June (Youth Day), young small-scale fishers affiliated with The Green Connection say they are concerned government does not recognise their value as self-employed South Africans “trying to create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their communities, from the ocean”.
Neville van Rooy, The Green Connection’s community outreach coordinator, says the government’s actions do not correspond with Ramaphosa’s publicly expressed wish for young people to become entrepreneurs.
“On the one hand, the President says that young people need entrepreneurship and employment opportunities,” he said.
“Yet at the same time he stands silently by as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) continues to push offshore oil and gas exploration activities, which not only exacerbates global warming and climate change but threatens the health of the ocean and, as such, coastal livelihoods.
“For young small-scale fishers the ocean provides a sense of self-worth and purpose. They feel part of something bigger. However, in the two years since we started working with coastal communities, as part of the campaign, we have found that government and corporate entities want to do their own thing, without interference from affected communities. In the process they often end up ignoring already established livelihoods and customary rights.
“These exclusionary tactics contradict what the President says about our young people creating their own opportunities and turns his otherwise lovely sentiment into nothing more than hot air.”
The Green Connection’s Legacy Programme is specifically geared towards empowering coastal communities, especially young people, to stand up for their right to protect the ocean and their livelihoods.
Small-scale fisher graduate of The Green Connection’s Legacy Programme Natalie-Jane van Wyk, from Saldanha, says: “Coastal communities have been taking initiative for generations, but we do not get the support we need to develop our ideas. And now, with coastal communities facing an onslaught of offshore oil and gas exploration proposals, which threaten our small businesses, we hope President Ramaphosa will do more to protect our right to meaningful public participation processes.
“It makes little sense for the President to emphasise the issue of widespread unemployment and the need for young people to take initiative, but at the same time it is his government trying to destroy our ability to work. With a healthy ocean, the truth is that we are often better off than many of the unemployed, struggling graduates. Because we can fish, we can feed our families and make an income. We cannot stand by and watch the government destroy that.”
The Green Connection says government must be more self-reflective and honest about how its interventions are faring. “Given an increasing unemployment rate, which will likely get worse as the climate crisis escalates, the urgent need for structural reform is clear. What government has done up to now, seemingly relying on its own limited knowledge, is not working.”
