Ms. Cllr Gogo Alphina Ndlovana, Councilor of the Women’s Progressive Movement, opened the WLCAN meeting emphasizing that the WLCAN meeting is an important platform to discuss ways by which the Council Resolution of spending 25% of the City of Tshwane Municipality budget which should be used for the empowerment of women can be implemented to best serve the target group. Enica Tshime, Deputy Director of the City of Tshwane Fresh Produce Market, gave an introduction on the markets standards, requirements, packaging, and emphasized that the farmers need to question any deductions made without their consent.
After the presentation, the farmers discussed their experiences and concerns,
- Need for financial support from the government to comply with the markets requirements and packaging and they need support from the government.
- Inflexible contract with super-market chains.
- Lack of coordination between government programs and farmer’s needs.
The participants also recommended office of the MEC (Member of the Executive Committee or Provincial Minister) of Agriculture in Gauteng and Department of Women (formerly the Department of Women, Children and People with Disability) to be invited for the next WLCAN meeting and to make these meeting more regular. There were 22 participants (17 women and 5 men) nine of them were farmers representing seven farmers’ cooperatives. The meeting was held in City of Tshwane Office on 19 July in Tshwane, South Africa.