The Marijuana Board of South Africa (MBOSA) is set to host a two-day Dacha National Dialogue for its 420 commemoration on 19 and 20 April 2026 at Bellamy Resort in Ward 55, Bojanala District, North West.
Billed as “a powerful stand for economic justice and cultural preservation”, the April Dacha National Dialogue and Dacha by the Dam festival will be co-hosted by Bellamy Resort, Bansir, BlackMotion and the Pop Up Market, MBOSA said in a media statement.
The event will be a scaled-down affair due to safety concerns, with only 300 or so attendees expected. However, it is being treated as a dress rehearsal for the larger gathering scheduled for August 2026, MBOSA Gauteng founder and former secretary-general Ras ST Khunou revealed in a telephonic interview with Cannabiz Africa.
MBOSA has been consulting and coordinating with the relevant area stakeholders to ensure the event’s success. “I was in the area on Sunday to meet with the local councillor and SA Police Service (SAPS) in their role as a stakeholder in the [Cannabis] National Dialogue,” Ras Khunou stated.
The two-day get-together is an exhibition-cum-market-cum dialogue space aimed at unitingindigenous cannabis growers, knowledge holders, and stakeholders to confront the ongoing marginalisation of South Africa’s legacy cannabis communities. The gathering will push for concrete pathways to market access, benefit-sharing, and the full recognition of cannabis as an indigenous crop under South African law.
“This initiative aligns with growing national efforts to protect IKS, including calls for cannabis to be included within South Africa’s indigenous agricultural economy and for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on benefit-sharing. The event also echoes the urgent demands raised by Project Indlela and the National Cannabis Dialogue, which have highlighted how legacy communities remain ‘exposed to police harassment and arrests’ despite legal reforms,” the MBOSA media release explained.
MBOSA lamented that the historic 2018 Constitutional Court ruling had not delivered on guarantees. The decriminalisation of private use and cultivation had failed to usher an inclusive green economy to the very communities that nurtured the plant for generations.
“The sector has been systematically hijacked,” it stated. It was unfortunate indigenous cannabis stakeholders and IKS custodians, brutalised under apartheid-era cannabis laws, continued to be victims. They were subject to coercive arrests while foreign cannabis products and JSE-listed companies dominated the legal market.
The Dialogue was therefore a movement to restore the soul of South Africa’s cannabis industry, said MBOSA’s Innocent Madlala. “Today, we are excluded from the very economy we built. This festival is our declaration that we will no longer be silenced or sidelined.”
· Two-Day Exhibition & Market: Showcasing indigenous cannabis cultivars, traditional healing products, and innovation by local growers.
· Stakeholder Dialogue: Critical conversations on policy reform, restorative justice, and economic inclusion for legacy communities.
· Cultural Celebration: Honoring the Rastafari and traditional communities who have kept the cannabis knowledge alive.
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