PharmaConnect Africa Chairperson and TUT academic Dr David Katerere (pictured here) and colleagues are advocating for a SADC Cannabis Roundtable to be recognised by the SADC Secretariat as part of ongoing discussions during the SADC Industrialisation Week currently under way in Durban.
The 9th SADC Industrialisation Week runs from 27-31 July 2026. It is co-hosted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, SADC Business Council and the South Africa government and gathers regional leaders, scientists, industry experts, policymakers and other stakeholders to focus on critical mineral beneficiation, infrastructure and vale chains.
Cannabis missing from SADC industrialization agenda
However, Afrobotanicals and cannabis are not on the event’s agenda despite the fact that traditional medicine is at the centre of healthcare in the SADC region.
“There was no discussion around cannabis at the Industrialisation Week. In future events such as the CannaConnect we would be inviting the SADC Secretariat for purposes of supporting a SADC Roundtable on cannabis and hemp,” Dr Katere said.
Discussions during Industrialisation Week had mostly focused on agro-processing, with little attention paid to the link between agro-processing and pharmaceutical development. This wasdespite the fact that conventional pharmaceuticals depended on agro-processed crops for their manufacture and origin.
“It will be good in subsequent SADC Industrialisation Weeks to have a real focus on herbal medicines,” suggested Dr Katerere.
“There was not much on traditional medicines specifically. The focus was on pharmaceuticals and of course, you cannot ignore the elephant in the room which is the fact that in the SADC region we have traditional medicine at the centre of healthcare in a sense even though it’s not mainstreamed. There was some reference to it and that reference had to do with the fact that no standardisation currently exists,” stated Dr Katere, who cited the immense value inherent inplants that grow in the region, particularly for the wellness industry.
Health benedfits of Afrobotanicals being overlooked
He highlighted that the numerous potential medicinal properties of cannabis and the plenty industrialisation and industrial development opportunities in hemp and associated benefits could not be ignored.
The overlooking of Afrobotanicals at the Industrialisation Week reflected a global trend as there had not been sufficient investment in botanicals globally, which affected standardisation efforts, said Dr Katerere. “There has to be evidence around quality, efficacy and safety for medicines to go on the market. Research has to show evidence that they indeed work.”
Traditional herbal medicines were difficult to standardise because of differences in when, how and where they were harvested. Other limiting factors included that once some botanicals were introduced into monoculture there was the probability of plant diseases and mismatched chemical composition, explained Dr Katerere. “These are some of the technical issues thatinform policy because safety and efficacy must be assured,” in order to differentiate what passed scientific muster from “snake oils”.
“Through Pharmaconnect Africa’s sister organisation, Association of African Medicinal Plants Standards (AMPS), we have published a second iteration of the African Herbal Pharmacopeia. We’ve provided information on how they are used as well as pertaining to the toxicology and the chemistry,” said Dr Katerere, who cited a list of the 31 most important and used Afrobotanicals, including mpesu and marula available in the region, as well as others from countries including Uganda and Nigeria that “were in vogue and popular”.
The United States Pharmacopeia had issued a cannabis monograph, Dr Katerere stated. Africa should do the same.
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