Agriculture Minister John Steenhusien has expressed concern over fluctuating and inconsistent payments by the Matlosana Local Municipality to the local fresh produce market.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Minister said that the inconsistent payments by the municipality have destabilised operations at the Matlosana Fresh Produce Market where at one point, arrears owed to market agents had climbed to R7 million in August 2025.
“The Minister… expressed his grave concern over the growing crisis at the Matlosana Fresh Produce Market, which is the result of the City of Matlosana Local Municipality’s ongoing non-compliance with a high court order issued over four years ago,” said the Department of Agriculture.
Matlosana is located in the North West province.
Issued in March 2021, the court order mandates that 95% of daily produce sales revenue be transferred to registered fresh produce market agents within 48 hours. The department added that owing to the continued failures, market agents are being forced to pay the municipality’s debt in advance to producers from their own trust accounts.
Market agents also risk being in breach of the Agricultural Produce Agents Act, 1992 (Act No. 12 of 1992) as they cannot meet their statutory obligation to pay producers within five business days. Additionally, major suppliers have already withdrawn produce worth millions, threatening the market’s viability and food security.
“We require immediate, decisive action from the regulatory body to protect our producers and agents,” said the Minister.
This as the Minister has escalated the issue to the national regulatory body, the Agricultural Produce Agents Council (APAC), requesting an urgent and comprehensive regulatory response, including the following:
- An assessment of the municipality’s continued role in administering trust monies given its repeated breaches
- Consideration of measures to protect agents and producers from further prejudice, including whether interim controls or oversight over the Freshmark system should be instituted
- Advice on potential amendments or enforcement actions required under the Agricultural Produce Agents Act, 1992 (Act No. 12 of 1992) to prevent recurrence of such failures
APAC indicated that it would respond soon to indicate the proposed way forward.
As part of efforts to resolve the matter, Steenhuisen wrote to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, and the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, alerting them to the City of Matlosana Local Municipality’s failure to comply with the court order.|
“Minister Hlabisa has indicated that the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’s Directorate: Local Government Operations and Support (LGOS) held a meeting with the Matlosana Fresh Produce Market on 29 September 2025, and he is expecting to receive a report from LGOS by the end of the week,” said the Department of Agriculture.
This as Steenhuisen stressed that the collapse of a regulated market system such as Matlosana would not only harm producers and consumers in the region but also erode confidence in the broader national fresh produce market framework.
This article first appeared in SA News. Read the original here.
Feature photo: Mark Stebnicki on Pexels
