The City of Matlosana Local Municipality in Klerksdorp, North West, has acknowledged a concern expressed by the Agriculture Minister, John Steenhuisen, over its fluctuating and inconsistent payments to the local fresh produce market in the municipality, which is in violation with a high court order issued over four years ago.
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.”
Speaking on YOUFM, the Executive Mayor, Fikile Mahlophe, conceded that there are fluctuating and inconsistent payments to the local fresh produce market.
“First and foremost, we acknowledge the concern as raised by the minister regarding the fluctuating or inconsistent payments to the local fresh produce market. But I must clarify that it’s not as gloomy as it is portrayed because it’s just an issue of a payment that is processed through a municipal financial system to ensure compliance, accountability and proper auditing, that’s what is concerning and it’s something we cannot unfortunately bypass,” conceded Mahlophe.
The mayor also highlighted that due processes must be followed, before the municipality releases the payments.
“Lastly, what is important is also a relationship between us and the market agents in terms of verification of supplier and producer details before the payments are released. So, we are engaged in that process because remember we are dealing with market agents who are small scale businesspeople relying on what they produce. We must verify our supply on what they produce before we make the payment and those are some of the issues causing these delays,” explained the mayor.
Mahlophe has however poured cold water on allegations that the municipality has accumulated over R7m in arrears in terms of money owed to the market agents by August 2025.
“I also need to verify the amount alleged by the minister on his statement, and as earlier indicated we acknowledge and thank the honourable minister for highlighting these issues and we assure that these issues will be followed up. But I am not really convinced that they ballooned to that much and we just need to investigate it because we are dealing with the issue of making sure that we have firm steps to ensure consistency, accountability and sustainability in all operations,” remarked Mahlophe.
In addition, he said that despite the payment delays and challenges, the local fresh produce market is operating efficiently and not in a crisis.
“I can assure you that it is still in good condition which is why we have such a number of market agents seeing it as one of the best that can be used. What is also interesting about it is its strategic location, we are in a centre of the big cities and towns because we take what we produce to as far as the Northern Cape, to Mahikeng, Rustenburg and Johannesburg. We have been doing that consistently and we have never had a situation where the market is closed or ran out of the produces, we also produce locally into reputable stores and they are consistent in buying from our local fresh produce market,” stressed Mahlophe.
Meanwhile, Steenhuisen said that an immediate intervention is required to protect the producers and market agents.
He has also as part of efforts to resolve the matter, 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 municipality’s failure to comply with the court order.
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.
