Esau apologises for derogatory comments

FISHERIES minister Bernhard Esau has apologised over derogatory comments he made about NCCI chief executive Tarah Shaanika and the late minister of fisheries Abraham Iyambo.

Esau made his apology at the end of a 10-minute speech on his role in the ‘Namibian house’ to ensure the fair and sustainable distribution of Namibian marine resources and the role of the sector in the war against poverty during a consultative meeting on Friday.

This followed a directive from President Hage Geingob that he should publicly apologise for his utterances.

“Since fisheries was in the limelight of the media, quoted and unquoted, if we have offended people; if we have offended individuals, please, on behalf of the ministry; on behalf of myself: my sincere apologies, and those who are not with us, may their souls rest in peace. The struggle for economic emancipation continues,” Esau concluded.

Esau was quoted in a story on the front page of The Namibian last Thursday titled ‘Fish law gets smelly’ in which he said Shaanika “is being a puppet of the highest order,” and that it seemed to Esau that Shaanika appears to have been “bought off” by Namsov fishing company to push the company’s agenda.

Esau was further quoted as suggesting that the late Iyambo was in the pockets of fishing companies.

“Maybe they controlled the previous minister. We fought for this country and for the fair distribution of our resources. I was not born to cowards and I won’t be a coward,” Esau had said.

He was responding to allegations by the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) and some fishing companies that he was given more power by amendments to the Marine Resources Acts of 2000 which regulates the issuing of fishing quotas.

The amendments were passed in the National Assembly in July and are now being debated in the National Council.

An editorial in The Namibian on Friday also highlighted the matter. It questioned why Esau, instead of addressing the criticism from the NCCI about his lack of consultation in changing the law, had decided to attack Shaanika, accusing him and Iyambo of being puppets of the old fishing companies.