Written by Carolize Jansen, Fresh Plaza
More than a thousand employees have been sent home, and the final 3,000 tonnes of their tomatoes might have to be destroyed because South Africa has closed its border to Namibian produce, says Albert van der Merwe of Sonop Farms, growing tomatoes, butternuts and table grapes in Noordoewer, Namibia.
“Since 18 September, we have not exported one kilogram of product. And we had a really great tomato crop this year, but we’ve already had to dump over a thousand tonnes of it in a ditch.”
On 11 August 2025, a Sonop Farms truck was summarily stopped on the Namibian side of the border and informed that they had (unbeknownst to themselves, Van der Merwe maintains) for years not been in compliance with phytosanitary regulations. At issue was an administrative lapse on the part of the Namibian Plant Protection Organisation, and not, he emphasises, a pest outbreak or imminent phytosanitary risk posed by Namibia to South Africa’s tomato production.
In August 2025, Van der Merwe’s legal team successfully argued in the Gauteng High Court that this non-compliance logically extends to all Namibian producers, not only to Sonop Farms, the only one whose export permit was withdrawn at that stage. They also put forth that South Africa had not followed the correct procedure, issuing no prior notice whatsoever to their Namibian counterparts nor to the affected farm, in effect contravening its own Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA).
In an interview with Namibian radio station Kosmos FM in August, the Namibian agriculture ministry spokesperson said that they were still waiting to hear from their Southern neighbour what the reasons behind the ‘blockage’ were.
Armed with an urgent interdict, Sonop Farms resumed exports of its tomatoes to six provinces in South Africa, where their share of the tomato market has risen in recent years to 12.6%, with growth particularly in Gauteng.
Their export permit was again cancelled on 18 September. On the same day, Sonop brought an urgent appeal for a second time, but it was judged as not urgent by the judge. Therefore, a joinder application brought by South African tomato producer ZZ2 and the Tomato Producers’ Organisation to be added to the case as interested parties was also not considered by the judge.
Since that date, all export permits for Namibian fresh producers have been withdrawn for the time being.
Namibian table grapes have been caught up in the trade skirmish between the two countries. Their table grape harvest starts in roughly a month. “We have no comments at this stage, we are waiting on South Africa to finalize the import permits for Namibian fruit and vegetables,” responds the Namibian Grape Growers’ Organisation.
Given the high levels of investment in Namibian table grapes by South African companies, others in the industry express optimism that the matter will be resolved in time, and also mention that Namibia has developed other options, such as those presented by Walvis Bay harbour.
Fresh produce trade between the two countries has long been characterised by Namibia’s periodic border closures to stimulate domestic production in the desert country, a state of affairs at which many South African growers take umbrage. At the moment, all tomatoes, onions, cabbage, English cucumbers and carrots grown in South Africa are banned from being imported into Namibia.
The South African Department of Agriculture and the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform have not responded to requests for information.
This article first appeared in Fresh Plaza. Find the original www.freshplaza.com/africa/article/9771529/south-africa-blocks-all-namibian-fresh-imports
Photo: AS Photography on Pexels
