Small-scale fishers of the Western Cape have for the first time been granted access to fishing during the 2019/20 west coast rock lobster season as part of the transition to the new small-scale fishing sector. This was announced by the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy, following a series of stakeholder workshops with fishing communities in the Western Cape. “There was a general call for interim relief fishers to continue fishing for the next season and for fishers on the declared small-scale fishers list to be granted access to fish,” said the Minister adding that, in considering the requests from communities, the Department had been instructed to fast-track the roll-out of the small-scale fisheries sector in the province. The Department was also directed to provide a transition from the current interim relief arrangement to a permanent and more structured small-scale fisheries sector in the Western Cape. Minister…

Following the groundbreaking result on women in parliament in Rwanda, Liberian Members of Parliament are determined to understand how Rwanda has empowered its women and draw best practices to implement back home. A delegation of Liberian legislators led by Honorable Acarous M. Gray on Monday held discussions with the Speaker of the lower chamber of deputies Right Honourable Donatille Mukabalisa and also met with other forums. The Speaker took them through how Rwanda has empowered women in all sectors of life from mindset change to education that led to representation of 30% in all decision-making institutions. “The benefit of this inclusion is tremendously visible in the country’s development and achieving more goals,” she observed. The Liberians also had to digest Rwanda’s past dark history and how the country has defied odds to rebuild and get back on track in the past 25 years. Mukabalisa explained them the functioning of Rwandan…