~

On 10 December 2022, the Minister published her appeal decisions in the KZN Prawn Trawl fishing sector, even though her appeal record is dated 5 November 2022. It is inexplicable and unprecedented that the Minister sat on this decision for over a month before she decided to communicate her decisions.  The Minister decided to allocated the 1 unit of effort available to her on appeal to a Category C appellant, which scored lower than a competing Category B appellant, after she took into account certain criteria which included transformation and ignored the respective appellant's scores. There is precedent from the Western Cape High court that a minister taking such considerations into account (and ignoring the scoring) is ultra vires and reviewable.  The Minister's decision to allocate the 1 right on appeal to Thalassa Investment (Pty) Ltd is therefore reviewable in our view .  However, ignoring the incredibly pedestrian analysis of the appeals filed in this fishery (coupl...