On 3 February 2025, Judge Mantame issued some 20 orders reviewing and setting aside some 2 dozen appeal decisions in the small pelagic (anchovy and pilchard) sector. Those orders were each taken by agreement and included an order that the Minister must finalise the reconsidered appeals by 29 August 2025.
The Minister failed to comply with those court ordered deadlines and instead negotiated an extension with the attorneys representing those applicants to 31 October 2025 to finalise these decisions. But the Minister remained under judicial order to finalize each appeal in terms of those orders.
Instead of complying with the court orders, on Friday 31 October 2025, the Minister issued a statement confirming that he will not issue final appeal decisions but that he intends to institute a “self-review” application as some unspecified future date to correct certain undefined errors in the decisions of the delegated authority and Minister Creecy.
1. The Minister’s statement that he will not finalise the appeal decisions constitutes a contempt of each every court order issued by Judge Mantame. The Minister does not have the authority to simply elect to ignore a court order and choose to do as he pleases, especially one issued by agreement. The Minister ought to have applied for a variation order first before making his improper decision on 31 October 2025.
2. Given that Judge Mantame had already reviewed and set aside some 20 unlawful decisions, the Minister cannot seek a further order reviewing what has already been reviewed and set aside.
The Minister has to finalize the appeals according to Judge Mantame's orders AND he cannot review decisions already reviewed and set aside.
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