Lack of political will impoverishes South African fishermen

"When my belly is crying I must fill it. I can sit on the side of the road and beg for bread, but there is the bread right there," says Hahn Goliath, a fisherman in the small village of Doring Bay on South Africa's West Coast, as he points furiously at the Atlantic Ocean. [Full Story at IPSNews.net]

A summary of the situation is that the allocation of fishing licenses allocated by the South African government does not include the subsistence fishing community, who have to try and eek out a leaving on the recreational fishing rights which are inadequate. For the details please refer to the main article.

While the problem is clear and alternative solutions and recommendations are available, there is a lack of urgency and political will to make things right. Is there an epidemic of indifference among African politicians or has there been an “explosion of bozos” among the ruling class? (For more about “explosion of bozos”)

In harmony with the poverty inflicted on our South African brothers and sisters, I am reminded of this impassioned plea made by Sylvia Earle to protect the world’s oceans. In the middle of our crises and struggle for development there is an opportunity for us on the continent not to fall into the same pillaging practices that are plaguing our Western and Eastern cousins, and which have and will continue to affect all of us – directly or indirectly. How? I am not too sure but I can ask the questions and hope that you might have the answers.

Africa Past and Present: Episode 16

I am listening to a podcast interview of Mac Maharaj (biography), South African intellectual, activist and fellow prisoner and comrade of Nelson Mandela: African Past and Present podcast

Of particular interest to me are the comments he makes about home grown and external solutions used to resolve power sharing conflicts in Africa. He refers to the example set by the South African transition government and the contrast between that and the political conflicts in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Here is a quote -

"What we are creating in these other countries not only has those implications [credibility and legitimacy] but another implication. And that is, it is almost creating a culture of impunity by those who may commit gross violations of human rights and atrocities against people."

" . . I was really using this opportunity to urge scholars to say, look at these problems this is not being disloyal to ourselves. But we need to interrogate our experiences, understand the context in which we created those mechanisms, understand the limitations of transporting them and exporting them into other situations and avoiding the danger - that we would be appearing to solve problems but creating bigger ones for the people of the current respective countries."

This kind of critical thinking is what we need to unravel the conflicting aims of aid in Africa and its lack of effectiveness. In many of its current implementations, it is removing the incentives of government and internal agents of change (entrepreneurs, businesses, government agencies) to invest in solutions to their problems - why pay for it if we can get it for free? This leads to a bankruptcy of initiative and innovation.

Listen to the podcast and share your thoughts.