WATCH: 'We had no intention to shut down Hout Bay factory'

GALLERY: Fawu marches over factory closure

VIDEO: Fawu speaks out against factory closure

BREAKING: Fawu hands over memorandum

'We had no intention of shutting down Hout Bay factory', says activist

Cape Town - The main aim of Fresh Air for Hout Bay was always to find a solution to the smell, says its facilitator Kiara Worth.

“Fresh Air for Hout Bay has certainly never advocated for the closure of the factory,” she said. “We recognise that the jobs are important, that it is a vital and integral aspect of the community in Hout Bay. So we were really starting an investigation to figure out what could we do.”

Fishing group Oceana said growing complaints over the smell from its factory was behind its decision to shut down its fish-meal operation, which has now started a process to either relocate or retrench the 98 employees.

“When they cited the main reason being the community complaints, obviously we were even more surprised (compared to the news that it was closing),” she said.

“We certainly had no intention of shutting down the factory and up until that point there had been no indication that our complaints were really being taken seriously.”

WATCH: If Oceana goes, our education goes

WATCH: It was not about developing an exclusive waterfront, says Fresh Air for Hout Bay

WATCH: Roscoe Jacobs addresses Fawu and the City of Cape Town on Friday 11 September 2015