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The brazen nature of the corruption I personally witnessed at the Nature Reserve at Roodeplaat Dam and total disregard of government regulations is shocking to say the least.

Some time last year, the Department of Infrastructure Development under whose authority Roodeplaat Dam falls introduced a new payment system requiring those entering the dam precinct either for fishing or any other sport to pay entrance fees by card only. In other words, payment by cash was scratched.

This move which was probably aimed at avoiding theft or fraud, eliminated a lot of fishermen from nearby informal settlements who do not have bank accounts, and therefore cannot pay by card. This has made fishing at the nature reserve more attractive because the place is no longer crowded.

On January 22, 2024, I went fishing at the nature reserve whose entrance is on Moloto road. As I normally do when I go fishing, I always aim to be number one at the entrance gate so that I can pick one of my favorite fishing spots before they are taken. So I was up early, and was at the gate by 5.50am. Indeed I was number one, and found the gate still closed. I thought the gate would open at 6am, only to be told that it opened at 7am. I am not sure if this is the new official opening time, since I have known the gate to open at 6am over the two decades I have been fishing at the dam.

Bored that I would have to wait for over an hour before the gate opened, I tried to negotiate with the security guard manning the gate to allow me in and then I would come back latter to pay after the cashier arrived. The guard asked me if I was paying by card or cash, and when I said card, he said it was not possible because the swiping machine would only be available when the cashier arrived.

So the waiting continued for another half an hour until another car with two fisherman who seemed to be familiar to the security guard arrived at about 6.30am, and negotiated to be allowed to enter via the exit gate which was open. Happy that we would finally be allowed in, I followed the other fishermen to the exit gate where the boom was lifted to allow their car in after they paid cash to the security guard. The boom was immediately lowered before I could get in, and the security guard came to my car and asked me if now had cash. When I told him I did not have cash but had my bank card, he bluntly told me that I could not enter and had to wait for the cashier.

I immediately remembered that a new system had been introduced the previous year which actually barred payment by cash. I challenged the security guard, telling him that what he was doing was illegal and that he was committing both fraud and corruption. He simply ignored me and walked away, leaving me angry and frustrated. It was mind boggling that I, a law abiding citizen who was first to arrive at the gate was being denied entry, even after telling the security guard that I could leave my bank card with him to ensure that I would come back and pay.

I was fuming as I waited for 7am, angry that some people who had come after me had been allowed in ahead of me simply because of corruption. When the cashier eventually arrived at 7.05am, he was approached by the corrupt security guard who was mumbling something to him while pointing at me. It became obvious to me that there was an agreement between the security and this particular cashier because when I confronted him about what was happening, he looked sheepish although he said he was unaware that this was what the security guard was doing before he arrived.

To confirm my belief that they were working in cahoots, instead of saying action would be taken against the security guard, the cashier said: “Please forgive him”.

So it dawned on me that while the official policy is that payment is strictly by card, those who bring cash are actually more welcome that law abiding citizens, and it goes without saying that the cash does not reach government coffers.

Realising that there might be trouble brewing after he had seen me angrily confronting the cashier, and the sheepish manner in which the cashier looked, the security guard finally came to my car and said he was sorry.

When I first arrived in Pretoria in 2008, one of the first things I wanted to know was where I could get a good dam to fish at.

One of my workmates informed me of Hartebeespoort dam, about 30km west of Pretoria. The dam, he said, was famous for bream and big carp.

Just a month after arriving in Pretoria, I found myself at Hartebeespoort one weekend, and was fascinated by the size of carp which fishermen were catching there. I was also impressed by the cleanliness of the venue, Mierhoff. On my first visit to Hartebeespoort, I only fished during the day, as I could not commit myself to my favourite outing – camping.

Having satisfied myself about the security of Mierhoff, the following weekend I was back with my family on a Friday and camped until Sunday. It was an enjoyable experience, and for the next several months I became a regular fisherman at this venue, which was not only safe and clean,but the fishing was also good.

I soon became friends with the owner of the place, a big and hardworking Afrikaans man, who did most of the ground maintenance himself. I eventually discovered other dams which were better at other species of fish since Hartebeespoort was only good for carp. However, I went to the other dams mostly for day fishing as the alternative dams I had discovered did not have good ablution facilities.

This meant that when I wanted to camp, I reverted to Hartebeespoort for its cleanliness and relative safety. I was later to dump Hartebeespoort after learning that fishermen were losing their property -especially cellphones and laptops – to thieves who sneaked in at night when fishermen were asleep, and cut open their tents to steal.

What baffled the owner of Mierhoff was how the thieves gained entry as the gate to the fenced property was locked during the night. The thieves became emboldened by their success, and later I heard they had stolen a fridge from a guesthouse on the premises.

The thefts prompted several fishermen, including me, to stop camping at Mierhoff as it was no longer safe to do so.

Months later, two young men were caught by private investigators who had been hired to try and solve the mysterious thefts. It turned out that the two were stealing in a very clever way. They arrived in the dead of night in a canoe, having pedaled from across the dam. They carried fishing rods, and when they docked at Mierhoff, they acted as if they were some of the campers who were returning from fishing in deep waters during the night.

On that fateful day, little did they know that they were being watched as they performed their usual ritual of docking and moving out – fishing rods in their hands. Watching them from parked cars, the investigators eventually caught the culprits in the middle of the act and arrested them.

When they appeared in a magistrates’ court, the two culprits said they had gotten away with their thieving activity because they carried fishing equipment and appeared as though they were fishing. They said fishermen had not suspected them when they arrived in their canoe with fishing rods, and they proceeded to carry out the thefts.  

Fish at Roodeplaat and Rietvlei dams over fed

For everyone in Pretoria who calls himself or herself a fisherman, is most likely to go Roodeplaat or Rietvlei dams as they are the nearest.

This has resulted in tonnes of bait – especially that for carp – being dumped into the dams, something which may explain why fish have not been biting well at the two dams of late. Most weekends, the two dams are inundated with so-called fishermen, most of whom seem to be much better at boozing than fishing.

I have been fishing at both dams since 2008, and I must point out that both have become pale shadows of what they used to be, prompting me to look for alternative fishing venues, alas much further away from my home in Pretoria.

While the fact that the offloading of bait into the dams each weekend has meant that the fish are always well fed, and has thus contributed to them not biting most of the time, other factors have also contributed – namely poaching and noise.

I was surprised one day when I decided to cross Roodeplat dam in my canoe, to try my luck on the other side of the dam, about 300m from my usual fishing site. Just on my first cast, my line got entangled onto something, and when I went to investigate, I discovered that I had hooked a fishing net. After removing my hook, I decided to follow the line just out of interest, to find out how long it was.

I actually got the shock of my life because the net was incredibly long. In fact, after following it for about 500m, I decided to abandon my investigation after suspecting that the poachers might be watching me from nearby bushes and could hurt me. I immediately rowed back to the other side because I know how dangerous poachers can be if you cross their path, or even if they only suspect you are against their activities.

When I eventually related the encounter to one of my fishing friends who also sometimes fishes from a canoe, he said he had also come across a net and had followed it from one end to another, and estimated it to be about a kilometre long. He said it was actually there permanently, and the poachers just visited it regularly to remove their loot.

That day I also learned something I had not know for years.I had always believed that there are no crocodiles at Roodeplaat dam, only to come across a very big one on that day as I was rowing back to my traditional fishing spot. I immediately remembered what my late father and fishing mentor used to tell me about big water bodies. He always reminded me that I should always suspect that there could be crocodiles in any dam, even if some fishermen told me that there are no crocs, because they might not have seen them as crocs tend to hide from human beings.

The other day when I decided to camp overnight at Roodeplaat dam, I discovered that there are poachers who come in during the evening,pretend to be fishing, but use nets at night, and leave the dam very early in the morning when it is still dark. They obviously do so with the co-operation of security guards because when I reported the matter to the security in the morning, they did not seem too interested.

I have seen this same group of poachers – four of them – at least twice, and they move in a white single cab bakkie. Their favourite poaching spot is by the first gazebo near the river mouth, about 300m from the main gate.

Around 2008 to 2013 I used to prefer Rietvlei dam over Roodeplaat, but I eventually completely abandoned fishing at Rietvlei for security reasons. Twice I had read in the press of incidents when fishermen were robbed of valuables such as cellphones and laptops, at gun point during the night at Rietvlei dam.

Also I was put off by a corrupt and semi-literate security guard who used to demand bribes from fishermen in order to allow them to leave with fish. I say semi-literate because he insisted that it was illegal to take fish home, yet there was a placard near the entrance which said fishermen were encouraged to practice catch and release for conservation purposes. But they were certainly allowed to take fish home if they so desired.

Roodeplaat has generally been safe, and I have heard of only one incident if an attempted robbery. I have slept there many times without incident.