{"id":33609,"date":"2023-09-01T06:41:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T06:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=33609"},"modified":"2023-09-01T06:41:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T06:41:02","slug":"sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","title":{"rendered":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong><\/span><b>The South African government has reportedly given up on its request for a meeting with Botswana to discuss the latter\u2019s ban on importation of fresh produce following Botswana\u2019s sustained reluctance to accede to the request.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The request for dialogue was initiated by SA\u2019s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, in an attempt to address the simmering tensions over the ban, which has ignited debate about the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) agreements.<\/p>\n<p>Sources at the South African High Commission in Gaborone say Botswana\u2019s prolonged silence has prompted South Africa to abandon efforts to pursue the meeting it sought.<\/p>\n<p>Confirmed<\/p>\n<p>Botswana\u2019s Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Fidelis Molao, has long confirmed receiving a letter requesting the meeting last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSouth Africans see the reluctance and unreasonable delays as a refusal to engage,\u201d says one source. \u201cBotswana\u2019s reluctance to commit to a meeting continues to hinder any resolution to the dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ban \u2013 which Botswana imposed simultaneously with Namibia \u2013 has caused perturbations among South African farmers who say it violates the SACU agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Common market<\/p>\n<p>However, Botswana\u2019s position is that the ban is necessary to protect domestic producers and provide them with access to previously inaccessible markets. It affects an extensive range of fresh produce that is often reviewed, usually to add more items.<\/p>\n<p>Agri SA, a federation of agricultural organisations in South Africa, has emphasised the importance of SACU maintaining a common external trade border and free flow of goods within member countries of the common market, namely Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Botswana government holds that there are clear indications of burgeoning growth within the country\u2019s farming community following the imposition of the ban on New Year\u2019s Day last year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\">Botswana<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. The South African government has reportedly given up on its request for a meeting with Botswana to discuss the latter\u2019s ban on importation of fresh produce following Botswana\u2019s sustained reluctance to accede to the request. The request for dialogue was initiated by SA\u2019s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":33608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,244],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-33609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. The South African government has reportedly given up on its request for a meeting with Botswana to discuss the latter\u2019s ban on importation of fresh produce following Botswana\u2019s sustained reluctance to accede to the request. The request for dialogue was initiated by SA\u2019s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\",\"name\":\"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban - Botswana","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban","og_description":"Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. The South African government has reportedly given up on its request for a meeting with Botswana to discuss the latter\u2019s ban on importation of fresh produce following Botswana\u2019s sustained reluctance to accede to the request. The request for dialogue was initiated by SA\u2019s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban","datePublished":"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban"},"wordCount":321,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban","name":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-01T06:41:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/09\/sm_1693537216.860039.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/sa-gives-up-on-meeting-with-botswana-on-fresh-produce-ban#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SA Gives Up On Meeting With Botswana On Fresh Produce Ban"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}