This is an urgent letter issued to Minister George this morning regarding his department's ongoing unlawful attack against abalone divers. A department that has been greatly implicated in abalone-related corruption and collusion with organised criminals in the abalone trading space.
Is Minister George just a confused deer staring into the headlights of ANC corruption or does he have any inclination to make any changes at DFFE?
The open letter follows:
"URGENT
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries & Environment
Dr Dion George, MP
Minister,
Between April and late June 2025, the Deputy Director General of the Fisheries Management Branch issued a plethora of individual decisions in terms of section 81 of the MLRA recording that she refused to issue exemptions to historic abalone divers on the basis that these divers committed certain violations of the MLRA. Your department has not preferred any criminal charges against any of these divers.
It is now known that the DDG lacked the legal authority to act in terms of section 81 as you had withdrawn the delegations of authority that were originally issued by your predecessors that empowered the DDG to make decisions in terms of section 81 of the MLRA.
The issuance of the individual notification/decision letters by the DDG between April 2025 and late June 2025 are thus unlawful. Accordingly the more than 100 appeals that are presently before you for decision are thus a nullity and have been filed as a consequence of an unlawful and ultra vires series of hundreds of decisions by the DDG.
The unlawful conduct by the DDG has not only resulted in 100s of small-scale abalone divers being unlawfully denied an income but it forced these divers to incur completely avoidable costs preparing and filing appeals and attending completely unlawful and unnecessary “verification meetings”.
The conduct of an official who has willfully acted without legal mandate causing such egregious social and economic harm to hundreds of people must attract urgent and significant consequences.
We accordingly urgently require your intervention in this significantly damaging socio-economic fiasco caused by your department affecting 179 historic abalone divers. The deplorable conduct by your department, which has denied small-scale abalone fishers untold suffering, loss of income, public shame for being named as being poachers by your department without any evidence in this regard (and certainly no criminal convictions - let alone any charges) requires urgent remediation.
We await your urgent response advising as to how you intend halting the unlawful conduct faced by abalone divers."
