Background

The Fresh Produce Market is a commission based market and as a result the produce is sold by the Market Agents on behalf of the Suppliers. The Market has a total data base of 253 suppliers and over a 300 buyers, visiting the Market floor on a daily basis.

The Market was first born in 1979 and by then it operated from the old town.

Staff Component

The Market is one of the 10 departments within the City of Matlosana. It has a total staff component of 46, under the management of Ms L. M. Ramorola who reports directly to the director of Economic Growth Mr S. G. Mabuda. To ensure that special attention is given to the department’s focus areas there are two(2) Assistant Directors, Mr S. Cornelius on the financial division and Mr M. Mosoeu on the operations division. Under supervision there is a team of cashiers, general workers and product control clerks, who plays a prime role to assist the department to achieve its objectives.        

Infrastructural Background

The Market is currently operating in a total space of 16 000 m2, with seven (7) loading platforms, seven (7) cold rooms and thirteen(13) ripening rooms. 

The current extension is 8000 m2 of floor space, which will accommodate (3) ripening rooms and one large cold room.

The brick work and the roofing has been complete; structure needs to be electrified and a sewer system be put up.

Food Security

The Market’s products are inspected on a daily basis to ensure quality assurance measures are complied with, and other regulations such as labelling, mass and packaging.

Cleanliness is one of the department’s priorities. The Department has two large floor scrubbing machines to assist a team of general workers.

Safety

To ensure high security level, the Municipality has appointed a security company with a service level agreement that ensures optimal service. At the interest of all stakeholders there is a 24-hour surveillance by the CCTV Camera System. This is to make sure that our clients feel secured. 

Operating Hours

The Market is open for trading from 05:00 am until 09:30 am, from Monday to Saturday, however open 24-Hours for delivery of products from different suppliers. The Market becomes completely closed from Saturday 12H00 until Sunday 15h00. Office hours for administrative purposes are from 6:00 until 14:00 from Monday to Friday and from 06:00 to 10:00 on Saturday.

There is however a late sale option for bulk purchases from 09:30 to 12:00.

Cash Handling

The Market has three (3) cash buying systems, which gives buyers an opportunity to   methods

Cash buyer system: ordinary cash on hand

Secure cash buyers’ system- deposit cash at the Market or directly at the bank and make purchases from a buying cards loaded with money from the deposit made by the buyer.

Daily small scale buyers have been issued with a permanent buyer number, which allows them to can be able to draw their purchases history at any given day.  

Two secure cash offices have been set aside to be able to handle “big” buyers and are therefore dealing with larger amounts per customer.