Boatless ANC shopkeeper gets two-ton fishing quota

Department of fisheries, former MP who assisted her say the allocation is legitimate

A senior ANC politician is under the spotlight for helping a party member acquire a two-ton crayfish quota - despite her not even owning a boat.

Maria Brown, who lives in a Wendy house in Darling, north of Cape Town, landed the quota with the help of ex-ANC MP Maxwell Moss, who heads the party's economic transformation desk in the Western Cape.

The quota initially belonged to 197 fishermen and women.

Moss last week confirmed he had helped Brown land the quota. It had belonged to Grey Cottages Investments, a fishing company owned by mostly unemployed people living in Hout Bay's two townships.

Moss said he helped Brown acquire the two-ton government quota, worth about R600000 a year, because he was trying to empower the historically disadvantaged.

Brown was once a director of Grey Cottages Investments, but was voted off the board along with several others after a row over company finances. Grey Cottages Investments was deregistered that year.

Moss met Brown at the offices of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and facilitated a meeting between her and officials, he said. She was given the quota in September. "We simply assisted her," he said.

But his involvement has prompted accusations of corruption in a troubled industry bogged down in fights over dwindling resources.

Moss is a former recipient of the Western Cape's highest public service award, the Order of the Disa, which he received in 2004 for his "perseverance and personal dedication to improving the lives of the people".

Documents in the possession of the Sunday Times show Brown was one of several company directors involved in a costly power struggle over the two-ton quota, which ended in the company being deregistered with tax debts of R80000.

Now it appears the transfer may have been fraudulent. The DAFF said this week it had not met with any of the former shareholders to hear their side of the story - but would be willing to investigate the case further should it receive new information.

A legal transfer requires permission from the majority of former shareholders. But the Sunday Times is in possession of a signed affidavit from 59 former shareholders who say they never received money from any transfer or sale of shares.

Several of the former quota holders in Hout Bay were this week unaware their quota had been reallocated. Mavis Ngetu, who represents the former shareholders from Hout Bay's Imizamo Yethu township, said: "There are a lot of people getting quotas who were never in the fishing industry."

The DAFF defended the quota transfer , claiming Brown was a legitimate beneficiary. "All the requirements in terms of the transfer policy were met," said DAFF spokesman Carol Moses.

She said the transfer from 197 shareholders to a single shareholder was allowed because "the transformation profile is the still the same, that is, 100% black".

She said Brown had claimed to have access to a boat and to have bought the necessary shares from Grey Cottages.

Brown runs a fish shop in Darling.

She denied receiving the quota because of her ANC connections.

"The ANC didn't give me this fish. I got it in a legal way," she said, denying any wrongdoing.

Shaheen Moolla, a former chief director with Marine and Coastal Management, said of the transfer: " This is absolutely appalling. It is about which pig is quickest to the trough."

Andy Johnston, spokesman for the Artisanal Fishers Association, said the transfer of a community quota to a single shareholder contradicted government's policy of transforming the economy.

"A lot of people are not looking after actual fisherfolk but are looking after their friends and family."

• jordanb@sundaytimes.co.za