Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ A three-ocean-bordering coastal nation, South Africa has an “ocean territory” larger than its land extent without integrated governance equal to its oceanic potential.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal nations like South Africa exercise jurisdiction over adjacent maritime spaces. These spaces, ranging from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to the continental shelf, are tantamount to “ocean territory,” areas where states possess sovereign rights superior to everyone else.
While South Africa’s Constitution creditably defines land administration at national, provincial, and municipal levels, its seafloor is only referred to in the Maritime Zones Act of 1994, with no similar system of governance. By referring to this seaward extension as our “10th province”, there is no management system to administer it with the same sense of coexistence as land provinces.
There is a glaring lack of formal governance. Multiple agencies control pollution responses depending on whether or not oil is inside a ship or spilled into the sea. Our naval fleet dispatches billion-rand warships carrying missiles to pursue illegal fishing ships fitted with grappling hooks. Meanwhile, the plundering of fish resources, the disarray in search and rescue operations, and the surge in maritime crime continue.
Operation Phakisa, inaugurated with sweeping promises to unlock R150 billion in GDP and generate up to a million jobs, is midway through its timeframe but far from halfway to reaching its goals.
The potential of the maritime economy for national defence, trade, climate action, and jobs is still largely unrealised. There are international precedents and treaty regimes to direct maritime governance. What is lacking is political will and intergovernmental coordination.
South Africa does not need extra studies, commissions, or seminars. It needs leadership. Department heads in charge of maritime-related matters must sit together on one agenda, develop policy out of good understanding, produce a green paper, and set up structures of governance that are overtly channeled toward the unique nature of the sea.
Trying to jam sea management into shore-based systems has failed. We will continue to answer the wrong questions, wasting resources and missing a huge national opportunity, until we learn to ask the right ones.
It’s time to stop drifting. It’s time to manage the sea.
