Edwin Lombard
8 December 2002
Johannesburg — Villagers unimpressed by Scorpions' crackdown because just about everyone depends on the illegal abalone industry
SAM Brett used to live in a two-room state-subsidised house. Today it's been converted into a double-storey showpiece. He also wears a flashy gold watch and drives a luxury car - and it's all thanks to his booming business as an abalone poacher.
Brett is one of several abalone aristocrats in the fishing village of Gansbaai, a southern Cape town about 200km southeast of Cape Town.
The town, which promotes itself as the Great White shark capital of the world, is now more widely known as a poacher's paradise. But this week Gansbaai was still reeling from a crackdown by the Scorpions that led to the arrests of 30 prominent, all white, locals .
The arrested people are allegedly connected to the trade in the sea creature that sells for around R2 500 a kilogram in the East, where it is regarded as an aphrodisiac.
But if the police expected the non-poaching residents of Gansbaai to rejoice at the arrests, they were in for a surprise. This week residents told how the crackdown had made poachers with purses flee town - taking with them the profits of local businesses, from pubs to furniture stores.
Quite simply, they say, Gansbaai has become rotten just to survive.
But there are still some apparent untouchables, like Brett, who calls himself the unofficial spokesman for the poachers. He got up to R220/kg for abalone and raked in R10 000 a month from middlemen, mostly whites, who sold it to Chinese syndicates at twice the price.
Brett said the fruits of abalone poaching could be seen all over the nearby coloured township of Blompark. He proudly pointed to his own double-storey and other expanded state-subsidised houses that dot the area.
He said he started poaching after earning only about R700 a month at a local fish factory and being turned down when he applied for a fishing quota.
"White people were poaching all these years without anything happening. We decided that was bull***t and also cashed in," he said.
Brett said fishermen who for years had taken a couple of abalone for the pot turned to large-scale poaching when they saw there was big money to be made.
With the authorities still sniffing around town, Gansbaai was quiet this week. As the arrested people applied for bail, rumours abounded about who had tipped off the Scorpions. One local policeman fled the area with his family after his name appeared on a hit list.
Sipho Ngwenya, spokesman for the Scorpions, said of the 30 arrested people, four, including alleged kingpin Elizabeth Marx, remained in custody. The rest were released on bail of R2 000 to R10 000.
The editor of the local Overstrand Tribune, Hugo Geldenhuys, said the Scorpions' raid had left the town divided between those who welcomed it and those who saw it as bad for business.
Jan Labuschagne, the owner of a furniture store, said his business had dropped by 60% since the raid. He used to ring up sales of R1 500 a day.
"People are just hanging on to their money. They are too afraid to spend in case the Scorpions start noticing them," he said.
He believes around 80% of Gansbaai's economy depends on poaching.
"What the Scorpions have done is to take the bread out the mouths of poor people," he said.
At the local fishing-tackle shop there was little business being done except for sales of sunglasses and hats.
A week earlier, diving equipment was the main seller. The owner refused to comment on why sales were down.
Pub owner Ernst Kriel said his sales had dropped suddenly.
Alwyn Otto, a local video shop owner, blamed the government's unfulfilled promises of fishing quotas for the town's descent into crime.
"Many people grouped themselves into close corporations and companies and spent thousands of rands in lawyers' fees in order to apply for quotas.
When the quotas didn't materialise, people resorted to illegal poaching to keep the pot cooking," said Otto.
Horst Kleinschmidt, general manager for Marine and Coastal Management in the Environment Ministry, said the sudden surge in abalone poaching was because of a rise in the price.
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