Sea Harvest, based in Saldanha Bay since it was established almost 50 years ago, is the largest employer in the town. CEO of Sea Harvest, George Bezuidenhout, said the company was “synonymous” with the town. “There are 2300 employees in Sea Harvest, each with about five dependents, which means there are 12 000 people in Saldanha who are reliant directly on this company.” Sea Harvest is a black empowerment fishing company that provides wild, sustainably fished hake.

The event took place amidst great excitement from the local fishing community, with the deputy mayor of Saldanha Bay, Rosil Jager, and dignitaries from various local government departments and services in the area, in attendance.

Sea Harvest Human Resources executive, Mary-Lou Harry, opened the event saying that destruction of family values and family life within the community, in and outside of Sea Harvest, was ravaging the society. “The social evils of substance abuse, unemployment and violence - especially against women and children - are scourging our society. We needed professional help to assist our employees with the problems that are consuming their lives,” she said. “The professional help has come in the form of our wonderful social workers. Their services can now be offered to our broader community by this new satellite office, established through the Public Private Partnership between the Social Development Department and Sea Harvest. Sea Harvest is honoured to be the corporate citizen in this venture.”

Bezuidenhout outlined the history of the town, and said that it was a hard slog to build hake from the stokvis it was known as - and considered only as a cheap form of protein for the mines - into the iconic fish species it is today. “Our strategy has always been to add maximum value to the fish and the community,” he said. “We export the final product, in the final packaging, ensuring the maximum number of jobs are created right here.” And, he said, Sea Harvest had a policy of not mechanising wherever possible, in order to create the most employment opportunities possible.

“This is an impoverished community,” said Bezuidenhout, “and with impoverishment comes social ills. When we were approached about this project it took us about a second to make the decision and approve it. The need for social work in our community is massive. This is an indication that government and private can work together. Private enterprise will always put money in where they can see the value, we can see the value in this. I commend the Department for this initiative.”

Fritz said the opening of these Social Development offices in Saldanha meant that Sea Harvest employees and the broader community, needing the services this department offered, now had a local office they could rely on. “Today we are here to expand our service, thank you to Sea Harvest for assisting us roll out services nearer to the people,” he said. The Minister said the Social Development Department offered several programmes, including programmes countering substance abuse, childcare initiatives, assistance for single parents, foster homes and assistance with marital problems. He said the department also implemented early intervention programmes to deal with problems, especially drug abuse, immediately. “Early intervention means we can assist the youth before they become hardened drug abusers or gangsters, and give them other options for their lives,” he said.

“I am so pleased Sea Harvest didn’t only focus on their workers, but also on the community they operate in,” said Fritz. “The Western Cape government has always believed in the whole of society approach, I’m therefore delighted that Sea Harvest as a responsible employer has seen the importance of their contribution to the social welfare of their employees and their families.”

The minister said social ills affected everyone in a community, and he hoped communities, corporates and government would stand together to make interventions at an early stage and to create a better future for our youth. “Sea Harvest has provided a wonderful model of Public Private Partnership to the benefit of their community, I hope other corporates will follow their example.

“I want to thank our staff, the people who deal with the trauma first hand. I have faith that we will deliver at this new office, we won’t turn anyone away and we will treat people with the dignity and respect they deserve,” he said. “Let us be the servants of the people. Let us show people that we really care about the people.”