Masifundise Development Trust is a Trust registered as a Non-Profit organization in terms of the South African Non-Profit Organizations Act 71 of 1997 as amended Masifundise is governed by a Board of Trustees overseeing the organization’s finances and operations. Their vision is a just society based on the principles of food sovereignty with an emphasis on social, economic, climate, and environmental justice for small- scale fishing communities. In August 2023, Masifundise began a collaboration with SwedBio to implement the Fisher’s People’s Tribunal in South Africa as a key strategy for documenting the impact of the Blue Economy and other developments on fishing communities’ livelihoods and
human rights. The Tribunal process will be important to access the state of recoanition and realization of South African fishing communities’ human rights to food, livelihoods, and traditional and customary rights. It is also an opportunity to mobilize and strengthen
fishers’ organizations, groups, and communities.