Sedge farmer’s market closed down

SEDGEFIELD NEWS - Instead of the regular flow of enthusiastic customers, stall-holders at the Wild Oats Community Farmers Market last weekend were met by law enforcement officers prohibiting them from trading.

The Wild Oats Community Farmers Market has operated outside Sedgefield for two decades and facilitates 65 stalls.

With roughly two or three operators per stall, nearly 200 people benefit from selling their products at the market. Other than being closed for 10 weeks last year, the market has continued to operate during the Covid-19 pandemic and has provided an essential means of income for stall-holders.

This came to an end on Saturday 24 July when organisers were prohibited from opening up the market.

"We had people setting up the market for the day, when we got a call just after 06:00 telling us that law enforcement and police had pitched up at the gates," said market co-founder Susan Garner.

She then went to the market herself to establish what was happening.

"We were handed a letter from disaster management stating that we were not allowed to be operating and that we will be closed," Garner said.

The letter, dated 23 July, cited Section 24 of the amended Disaster Management Act regulations that were published on 11 July in which flea markets are prohibited. It contains no mention of farmer's or produce markets, which were explicitly mentioned as being allowed to operate in accordance with regulations published the previous month on 28 June.

According to Richard Meyer, Knysna Municipality's head of Disaster Management, the decision to close the market was made during a meeting of the Garden Route District's Joint Operations Committee (JOC). Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) spokesperson Marilia Veldkornet corroborated this.

"It was unanimously resolved by representatives of local municipalities, the South African Police Service and the GRDM, that the organisers or owners of flea markets be notified that any operations of scheduled flea markets would be deemed as unlawful," she said.

Stall-holders had already begun preparing for the day, but were told they would not be allowed open shop.

According to Garner however, theirs is not a flea market but a farmer's produce market, which is indicated on the banner at the entrance. She also said that they were not notified of the intended prohibition of the market's opening.

"I received a call from a police officer on Friday [23 July] asking whether or not we'd be open the following day. I indicated that we would be," she said.

"He asked us to attend a meeting that afternoon regarding the market, but I could not make it on such short notice as I live on and run a farm. At no point was it conveyed that we would not be allowed to open."

Garner said that on the two Saturdays before the closing of the market they were visited by municipal disaster management officials.

"They said they had received concerns about mask-wearing at the market, but we showed them around and gave them our contact details if there were any problems," she said. "But we never heard from them again."

Meyer denies this. "Wild Oats was warned on numerous occasions and even Friday afternoon to refrain from opening," he said on Monday.

According to Veldkornet, the JOC elected to close down the market as they interpreted it as a place of leisure, as it "does not only serve as a place for basic food supply". Garner disagrees, saying the only form of leisure they have is "occasional live music".

She said that they have already operated as a takeaway-only market during the pandemic with the appropriate restrictions and would be more than willing to do that if it were the issue.

"We've been very disappointed by how this has been handled, because we would have been happy to have meetings and discussions about any problems they might have," Garner said.

"Had we known there was a problem we would've addressed it, but we were never notified. Stall-holders had prepared for a day at the market, and have now lost a significant amount of money." Garner indicated that they are considering legal options regarding the matter.

Southern Cape police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie forwarded KPH's request for comment to Knysna Police Station Commander Colonel Francois de Wet, who had not yet responded at the time of going to print.

Police vehicles parked at the entrance to Wild Oats Community Farmers Market.