Corruption stink over fishing rights
Top official says minister signed off everything he did
FORMER acting head of fisheries Desmond Stevens is accused of using South Africa’s seas like his own private bank account — but he insists all his actions had the blessing of his controversial former minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
Astonishing claims — which include soliciting bribes for fishing deals and doling out fish quotas to political allies — have emerged in internal department documents seen by the Sunday Times relating to Stevens and the former chief director of fisheries management, Dennis Fredericks.
Both men have been removed from their posts, but they retain senior positions in the department. The allegations include that:
Fredericks used a private Nedbank account to solicit bribes for permit “exemptions” and that payments of between R10 000 and R50 000 were made for “exemptions and exercises of discretion”. The system was “an open secret” in the fishing industry;
Stevens attempted to secure a R100 000 bribe for the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association, of which he is treasurer. He sent an e-mail in December to businessman Roger Latchman that read: “Chief, can you please assist with a R100K for stipend for military veterans.” Latchman did not make the payment; and
Stevens masterminded the free transfer of a fishing quota worth up to R20-million annually to a company called Freedom Fishing, whose beneficiaries include several ANC community leaders and military veterans. The deal was one of dozens of rights transfers authorised by Stevens before he was demoted earlier this year.
Stevens, appointed to head fisheries in May last year by Joemat-Pettersson — who was still minister of the department at the time — has denied the allegations against him and sought legal help last year from Cape Town lawyer Michael Bagraim.
In a statement, Bagraim said: “Everything that my client did was done either with the minister’s knowledge or under her instruction and he can prove it.”
Speaking yesterday, the lawyer said he was referring to the broad spectrum of Stevens’s actions as acting deputy director-general.
Stevens yesterday insisted he was being made a scapegoat by the department because of public outrage over the unpopular fishing rights allocation process, which sought to transfer more rights to the previously disadvantaged.
He dismissed allegations of corruption against him and said he had written to the public protector to request a full lifestyle audit.
This week, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fish- eries would neither confirm nor deny the internal documents seen by the Sunday Times.
However, the new head of fisheries management, Mortimer Mannya, said an investigation was being conducted into various allegations of corruption and misconduct.
“We want to look at it in totality,” said Mannya.
One of the documents, addressed to Mannya and sent three weeks ago by the legal firm Harris, Nupen and Molebatsi, details allegations of corruption related to last year’s
Stevens insisted he was being made a scapegoat
multibillion-rand long-term fishing rights allocation.
The letter states: “This letter contains the details received by us relating to allegations of irregular activities and alleged corruption, and we are bringing these to your attention for you to deal with in the appropriate manner.”
The letter’s author, attorney Peter Harris, said client-attorney privilege prevented him from commenting.
Stevens was a key figure in the fishing rights allocation process, which was set aside last month after several suspect beneficiaries came to light.
Among the beneficiaries were alleged gang leader Ernie Lastig Solomons and skipper Gregg Louw, whose ferry boat sank two years ago. Two people drowned in the sinking.
A second internal document, addressed to Stevens earlier this year by Edith Vries, director-general of the fisheries department, details other allegations against him, including that he withheld confidential state documents about fisheries management received from the State Security Agency.
It also refers to allegations that he “acted with impropriety by soliciting funds without approval of the director-general”.
“The department views this matter in an extremely serious light as the fallout in such matters has the potential to bring not only the department but also our political principals into disrepute,” states the letter.
Luthando Nogcinisa, Western Cape provincial secretary of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, which is representing Stevens in a labour dispute, said Stevens had brought the letter to the union’s attention.
“We responded to that letter and we are still waiting for the department to respond to that letter,” said Nogcinisa.
A third letter from public protector Thuli Madonsela in March said Stevens was also under investigation for allegedly receiving a R1.3-million bribe in return for facilitating a R30-million patrol vessel tender for Cape Town-based Nautic Africa.
The letter, sent to Joemat-Pettersson in March, requested documentation related to the tender deal.
Nautic Africa CEO James Fisher has described the allegations contained in Madonsela’s letter as “laughable”.
Joemat-Pettersson, who is now minister of energy, is also under scrutiny for her role in the implosion of fisheries administration. Under her watch, the fisheries patrol fleet and the rights allocation system have both floundered.
The DA, through its former spokesman for fisheries Peter van Dalen, laid a complaint against Joemat-Pettersson. It related to a previous public protector investigation into an R800-million patrol fleet tender. The complaint was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority’s directorate of special operations, the Hawks.
Joemat-Pettersson’s Energy Department spokesman, Duncan Hindle, referred queries back to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries this week.
Fisheries spokesman Lionel Adendorf said correspondence between service providers and the department was at times of a confidential nature.
“In line with the above, we will not be able to respond to the question.”
Fishing community leaders say poor fishermen have been marginalised at the expense of the politically connected.
“The department is corrupt,” said Andy Johnston, a community representative who helped to write the government’s small-scale fishing policy.
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