Not too long ago in a land far far away…actually in Hout Bay which at times can be considered just that, there was a mighty gathering of concerned citizens. At a glance from over the magical mountain in the picturesque valley all did not appear well. The humble citizens were up in arms over the recent axing of their savior, a one Desmond Stevens.
At 10 am one good morning after having offloaded the hake long liner, Valhalla there was an almighty commotion at the entrance to the harbor. Ten taxis had systematically with military precision managed to block the entrance. The number plates were all from CAM - Caledon & Kleinmond, Cape Province. It seems that the event organisers arranged a “protest for hire” when all the concerned citizens filed out the taxis and gathered along Harbor Road to dance, shout, scream and do all things necessary and ancillary for a good ol toi toi. Fashioning their ANC flags and Zuma T shirts, the mob was well and truly adequately dressed. But were they? The message being broadcast aloud by the bull horn was that of a conflicting story of how the ruling party mustn't turn their backs and ignore this small law abiding community and the pending promises. While the hired help seemed to go about their business of toi toing, the community who were actually up in arms at this stage soon realised their embarrassing mistake and soon the ANC flags were dropped and ushered to the rear. The reasons for this formal gathering of sorts was to voice their disapproval of the axing of their comrade Desmond Stevens, who promised the local community an avenue for which to voice their opinions to actively engaged the Department. Well you see, it turns out that they were requesting free quotas I mean, how much more perlemoen and crayfish do you want unlevied i.e. free? Anyways, as a historical fishing community they are ENTITLED to free quotas to go forth and do as their father’s father’s you name it had done and actively fish...according to the long grey haired rusta with the bull horn.
What a fantastic idea and concept?! If this is the case then why am I not ENTITLED to half of Cape Town Harbor? My Great Great Grandfather was the original port’s captain/ harbor master. Surely I should be allowed to claim half of the V&A Waterfront? With the sands of time comes about change and with change (expedited for those of the previously disadvantaged) since 1994, those who were ENTITLED enough got their own whilst the gettings good? When will the statutes of limitation end here?
To add to the general over all convoluted concept of this gathering, the langaanas arrived and joined in on the action to protest as they want to enforce that a portion of all hake landed in this harbor is to be sold to the “locals.” The problem with this is that due to the ANC granting quotas to their choms and comrades in South Western Township, there are those who merely catch the quotas for their holders who are land locked. As is the case with the Valhalla, they are merely vessel owners and don’t have a single kilogram of hake to their names. The right holder can insist as to where the hake is to sold and offloaded too which is the case with some. So as much as I support their particular cause, we would like to sell hake to the informal non vat registered cash traders, but alas we have to obey the wishes of our comrades.
Meanwhile stuck and stranded inside the confines of the harbor fence were numerous trucks and bakkies laden with fresh fish of all sorts including an airfreight cargo truck collecting tuna to be hastily hauled to the airport to meet the respective deadline for export. But just like this truck stood idle, so did the various tour operator buses and vans who with their international tourists were forced in having their Cape Peninsula Tour cut short. In fact one particular tour operator had to have transported the tourists to the airport to meet their flight check in time of 3 pm… needless to say I’m sure they were upset to say the least.
So with the bull horn being passed around like the proverbial hot potato, the messages were becoming even more confusing so I took it upon myself to investigate this inconvenience. In doing so I managed to retrieve a flyer that was being passed through car windows of passer byes. A copy of the flyer is here below for you to read further, but to summarise it for you it contains the following:
Due to the white controlled media, the murmurings, rumours and “white noise” ultimately cost Desmond his position. I wonder if they have ever heard of one Dr. Igbal Surve and a little concern of his called Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium (SIM)? This ANC stalwart is the majority shareholder of The Independent News Papers who recently at will axes editor’s and senior staff, etc who portrays himself, his company and the ANC in any bad light or disrepute. So not sure who needs to check up on their facts here but I guess the author of the flyer needs Google to clarify his “white noise comment.”
But what I found interesting and a point that warrants further investigating is why Inspector Levie had locked the rear harbour entrance (closest to Snookies)? Needless to say, Tina Joemat-Pettersen didn't arrive as requested by the DDG Support Group who were by now becoming more tired than restless and promptly at 4 pm the taxis loaded their paying fare and departed the scene. Community policing did nothing but stare and pose for the local journalists. Only the hard working small to medium businesses were affected here and if I hadn't written about this then I too probably would have forgotten about that day in a place over the hill far far away when my day was wasted.
