City of Tshwane ordered to invest R18m in produce market refresh

The Pretoria High Court has ordered the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to invest R18 million towards an area plan which will include the maintenance of the Tshwane Fresh Produce Market, after it faced a period of neglect and lack of upkeep.

SA’s 2nd largest fresh produce market

The judgment, handed down this week, was made in a case launched by the Institute of Market Agents of South Africa (Imasa), which took issue with the ‘dysfunctional’ state of South Africa’s second largest fresh produce market.

South Africa’s market agents body is not the only entity that has raised concern over the matter, Potatoes SA, earlier this year, called for the privatisation of the Tshwane Market, which provides fresh produce to nearly 6.5 million people in the country and has annual turnover of R3.5 billion.

Speaking to Moneyweb, CEO of Potatoes SA, Willie Jacobs, said there had already been interest from private sectors entities who are looking to be involved in the revitalisation of the market.

“There is definitely a willingness and appetite from the private market, and from the private industry to participate in an exercise like this,” Jacobs said.

Judgment

This week, Judge Shereen Meersingh instructed Tshwane Municipality to submit a precinct plan that clearly addresses the occupational health and safety management at the market.

It was also ordered to include financial management and quality management plans and details on how it plans to execute on those plans.

The municipality will be required to use R10 million on capital expenditure and R8 million on operational expenditures, Imasa chairman Gjalt Hooghiemstra and Agri SA CEO Christo van der Rheede, said in a joint statement on Thursday.

It was also ordered to pay Imasa’s costs for the court application.

“After years of consultations with [the] City of Tshwane without success, the only option available was a mandamus process. That this order had to be issued by the court is an indictment of the neglect of the market by the authorities in Tshwane,” they said.

In turn, Agri SA has also raised concern about the state of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market and has written to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

“In light of this judgment, we hope that action will be taken to address conditions at the market without the need for judicial intervention,” said Agri SA.

“South Africa’s markets play a critical role in guaranteeing affordable access to quality produce for millions of South Africans, and local governments must recognise this critical fact. The undignified and unsafe conditions at our markets clearly point to the lack of appreciation for the centrality of produce markets to the country’s food security,” it said.

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission.
Read the original article here.