Angler in spat with inspectors

A SOUTH African visitor fishing north of Cape Cross was arrested and charged with obstructing fishing inspectors in their duties on Monday.

The charge was dropped on Tuesday, but Willie Botha feels that he was humiliated and victimised. According to Botha, he had fishing permits for himself, his wife and his son. All three lines were in the water when fisheries inspectors stopped at his fishing spot, but his wife and son were sitting in the car. Botha said he showed the inspectors his permits and one of the inspectors then inspected his car.’When he saw the South African number plate, he said, ‘You South Africans like coming here and taking chances’,’ Botha said.Botha admitted that he swore at the inspector and told him to leave his family alone.According to him, the inspectors returned 10 minutes later and told Botha to follow them back to Henties Bay, where he would face a charge of obstructing the inspectors’ duties.’As soon as we arrived at the Police station they took me into custody. I had to organise a lawyer in Swakop to help me get bail – of N$1 000. I was expected to appear in the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday,’ he said.On Tuesday, Botha’s lawyer informed him that the charge had been dropped and he just had to apologise to the inspectors for swearing at them. According to a fisheries inspector, there is no rule that a permit holder must hold his fishing rod while fishing. ‘The rule is that every rod needs a permit – whether they’re holding the rod, or sitting away from the rod, it does not matter,’ the inspector told The Namibian. ‘There are those chancers that have more than one rod, while there are other people there, but not everyone has a permit. This is illegal,’ he said.