MOSSEL BAY NEWS - On Friday, 10 May, the Western Cape member of the executive council (MEC) for Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, met Deon van Zyl, the chief executive officer of Afro Fishing, the only fish cannery on the south and east coasts of South Africa, and had a tour of the factory in Mossel Bay.

Meyer wanted to understand the successes and workflow of Afro Fishing and identify any best practices that could be applied in other parts of the province.

He was accompanied by Mossel Bay Municipality portfolio chairman for Community Services Niklaas Booisen and portfolio chair for Infrastructure Services, Councillor Anton Dellemijn.

Portfolio chairperson for Corporate Services, Councillor Nickey Le Roux, facilitated the visit to Mossel Bay by CEO of Afro Fishing, Deon van Zyl, showed MEC for Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, around the factory. Meyer and also attended the factory tour.

Afro Fishing produces canned pilchards for several markets. A large percentage of their production goes to the National Schools Nutrition Programme supplying "affordable protein" for school feeding. It also donates fish to Benevolent Park senior citizens' complex in Mossel Bay.

Meyer and Van Zyl discussed some of the challenges facing the local industry, chief among them loadshedding. He highlighted the role of the Municipal Energy Resilience Plan in attempting to curb the effects of the national government’s ongoing energy crisis. The delegation was taken around the factory to better understand how Afro Fishing’s operations work -Mossel Bay Municipality 

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