Market for ‘rich, poor’ finds new home

Published Jul 13, 2015

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Cape Town - From the days of a “hay bale and a box of grapes”, the Oranjezicht City Farm Market has burgeoned into a bustling urban market at the V & A Waterfront with about 55 traders offering everything from artisanal cheese to free-range eggs.

Organiser Sheryl Ozinsky said the market’s new seaside home at Granger Bay, while slightly removed from the source of much of the produce in Oranjezicht, provides the space and resources this growing project requires.

“Cape Town needs a city market where both the rich and poor can shop,” she said. It was also about “place making”. In Barcelona, markets have helped neighbourhoods create a sense of place, with the municipalities investing heavily in these projects to ensure that they have the infrastructure and support required.

But South Africa was still trapped in the “supermarket” culture where people would go to a convenience store to buy their produce. The Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF) Market was helping to shift this perception, especially as people realised that not only would they be able to shop for produce not readily available at the supermarket; but they could also talk to the farmer, exchange recipes and meet other people.

“Markets bring people together and can turn an ordinary space into a place where people can enjoy (themselves) and be part of something larger.”

And where else can you shop for candy-stripe beets, dragon fruit or custard apples?

The market, launched in 2013, was first held every Saturday at the Homestead Farm. Unfortunately, a historic wall at the Homestead collapsed in October 2014 when a guy rope was accidentally rigged to one of the pillars. When Heritage Western Cape turned down its application to continue trading from the site, Premier Helen Zille offered her official residence at Leeuwenhof as an alternative. This “spectacular” spot was home for most of summer, and visitors got to enjoy a dip in the premier’s pool or a spot of tennis on the property’s courts.

But for winter, the market has moved to Granger Bay where there is ample parking and space for shoppers to browse in a tented area.

“The V&A has been extremely generous to us. It’s not easy to find a spot with all the resources we need, such as parking, shelter and water.”

The farm has a co-operative agreement with the City of Cape Town’s parks department to use the bowling green near the Corner of Upper Orange Street and Sidmouth Avenue for a community vegetable garden.

Ozinsky said it was hoped that the city would renew its agreement in September, when the contract expired.

Although initially started in 2013 because of safety concerns about the disused bowling green, the farm soon created a sense of place in the neighbourhood. “We soon realised it was about bringing people together and showing the community what they could do without waiting for government.”

In the non-profit organisation’s annual report for 2014, Ozinsky noted: “As the OZCF project has matured, we have come to believe that long-lasting solutions to the major issues of our time will only arise from the education and empowerment of communities.

“There will be no true sustainable agriculture or local food movement unless we challenge the status quo that impoverishes many and enriches the few. Race, gender, and economic equality are equally as important as soil health, crop rotations and farming techniques.”

There are now two full-time workers and six part-time workers at the farm which also supports emerging micro farmers from Manenberg, Philippi, Wynberg, Elgin and Stellenbosch.

Cape Argus

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