Cilliers Brink, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Tshwane. (Photo: Christine Oelofse/Maroela Media)
The main agricultural priority in the Tshwane metro is the city’s fresh produce market.
This is what Cilliers Brink, the DA’s mayoral candidate for Tshwane, said this week at the 58th Nampo Harvest Day outside Bothaville.
He also says the market is in trouble, because its income is not reinvested in infrastructure.
“The city earns 5% commission, but the money is not reinvested in the security, transaction system and the facilities that are under pressure. Food security is important for the city, but also for the informal sector.”
Over the long term, the model for Tshwane’s fresh produce market is to, like Cape Town, appoint a private operator and expert.
(Archive photo: FreshPlaza)
Maroela Media reported earlier that the High Court in Pretoria ordered last year that Johann Mettler, municipal manager, and Dr. Nasiphi Moya, mayor, should be sentenced to a month in prison for the metro’s failure to use a budget of R18 million for renovation work on the market.
The prison sentence was suspended for a year, which means that Mettler and Moya may not see the inside of a prison cell, but will have a criminal record.
The verdict followed after the Institute for Market Agents of South Africa (IMASA) brought an application about the situation to the market.
Farmers, agricultural associations and market agents have also previously expressed their concerns about the lack of safety, poor maintenance, hygiene standards and the effectiveness of the market management. The metro indicated at the time that approximately R20 million was charged per month for the operation of the fresh produce market. However, little of this money was plowed back into the maintenance of the market.
(Photos: Cilliers Brink/ Facebook)
Rural security in Tshwane
Brink says getting the metro police in a position where they can make a contribution to rural security is also high on his priority list.
This follows after another 24 names were added to the Wall of Remembrance this year during the Nampo Harvest Day. According to the latest statistics for the period 1 March 2025 to 28 February this year, six farm murders were recorded in Gauteng – some of them in Kameeldrift East in the Tshwane metro area.
Tributes were paid to the victims of farm murders this week in the somber manner customary in the past. (Photo: Elisma van der Watt/ Maroela Media)
“If the metro police are in a position to carry out effective law enforcement, they can make a contribution to rural security, but unfortunately this is not the case. The DA must first gain control over the metro police, so that we can exercise command and control.”
He says his own observations show that the use of technology is extremely important for rural security. “The more we can utilize technology such as drones, the more we can secure people. Camel drift has a specific problem and it is the informal settlements that have come into being on some of those small holdings.”
He emphasizes that it is not easy to relocate informal settlements, but that it must nevertheless be prioritised.
“The key to evictions on that land is to find alternative accommodation. This is also the only way we will get the court orders,” says Brink.
Watch the full interview with Cilliers Brink here: