The Project Indlela Stakeholder webinar on ‘inclusivity’ on 2 December 2025 highlighted the diversity within South Africa’s legacy communities and emerged with a clear message: legacy communities, whether they be isiXhosa-speaking growers in Mpondoland, Khoisan traditional healers on the West Coast or Rastafarians in Knysna, they all want an end to SAPS harassment and to be accommodated in future legislation that recognizes their right to make a living out of cannabis.
Hosted by the South African Cannabis Club Alliance (SACCA) and with strong representation from the Marijuana Board of South Africa (MBOSA), The Roots webinar drew about 80 stakeholders from legacy communities across the country, including a strong representation from Xhoisan leaders in the Western Cape.
Key threads from the Project Indlela online indaba
- Sitting in the MC’s chair for the webinar, the following key points emerged during the two and a half hour session:
- The right to trade freely in cannabis products without police harassment was the overarching need by legacy communities who want that written into future cannabis legislation;
- An immediate halt to police cannabis and dealing arrests and the removal of cannabis from the Drugs Act are absolutely top of mind among the stakeholders participating in the discussion;
- The regional ‘hub’ model is emerging as the most practical mechanism to integrate traditional farmers, healers and cannabis communities into a controlled market economy;
- The Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) ‘sandbox’ approach is the most practical regulatory mechanism to bring legacy communities into the mainstream;
- Inclusivity does not mean unity, as legacy communities are not seeking a ‘unity movement’ as such, but to be included in a cohesive law, and as Fields of Green for All’s (FGFA) Myrtle Clarke pointed out, tremendous strides have been made this year in unifying the various stakeholders around compliance and working together;
- Widespread confusion exists around the sale of cannabis, with MBOSA asserting that its certificates permit sales under the Traditional Healers Act — which is not legally the case — while many stakeholders mistakenly believed that SAHPRA was issuing ‘dispensary’ licenses.
- The current legal framework and the rigorous definitions of medical cannabis required an urgent overhaul as cannabis was used legitimately in traditional healing techniques not recognized by law.
Strong rejection of Section 21 “Dispensaries” and the medicalised model
A clear consensus emerged rejecting the proliferation of Section 21 “dispensaries”, which many stakeholders said are oversaturating the market, excluding legacy growers, and reinforcing a pharmaceutical-style model that does not reflect South Africa’s cultural, agricultural or economic realities.
Speakers emphasized that:
- Cannabis must stop being regulated under the Medicines and Related Substances Act, as this medicalised framework is inappropriate for traditional, cultural, and adult-use cannabis practices.
- The country must steer away from a scheduled-drug, pharmaceutical, corporate, Westernized model, which concentrates economic power and creates barriers to entry.
- South Africa should instead adopt an Africanized regulatory model centered on community-based hubs, Cannabis Social Clubs, traditional growers, and smallholder farmers — the people who built the industry long before legalization discussions began.
- Cannabis social clubs are fundamentally different from dispensaries. Clubs are community-driven, support local growers, and demonstrated during the webinar their role in community upliftment.
- Stakeholders were unanimous that any future cannabis legislation must prioritize legacy growers, cultural heritage, and a community based economic upliftment, rather than replicating a restrictive pharmaceutical model that excludes the very people the reforms are meant to uplift.
The Project Indlela webinar bought a diverse range of people together and showcased a number of promising grassroots initiatives, including Snoux Poswa of the Township Cannabis Incubator, Umtata (Pondo Land West), Paramount chief Daantjie Japhta and Paramount Chief Henry Maarman, Pauil Searle, and Senior Traditional Healer Zainodene Simmers (who provided the opening blessing for the meeting) from the Humcunqua Tribe, Khoi San (Western Cape), Andre Jochem and Quinton D’Oliviera from the Soakwagixa NPO) representing the Sonqua Xam Tribe of the Khoi San. Iman Max Melville attended from the House of Judah Rastafari in Knysna, alongside Matee Seduma, who represented traditional leaders from Limpopo.
‘Recognize the advances made’
FGFA’s Myrtle Clarke highlighted the importance of clear communication and realistic unity among cannabis stakeholders. She commended progress made in recent dialogues but stressed that leaders must keep their communities informed to avoid repeating issues.
Clarke clarified that no entity currently serves as regulator, and existing licenses, including SAPRA and Section 21 dispensations, are legally problematic. She noted a shift in government thinking toward a permit system under the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act and highlighted ongoing research and seed preservation efforts by the ARC, CSIR, Sata, and various universities.
Clarke also spotlighted grassroots initiatives, including the Mpondoland Plug Project, linking rural farmers to urban clubs, and introduced the Police Reform Project (PRP), aimed at stopping cannabis arrests by changing police Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
The PRP, a partnership with academic and community stakeholders, will hold its first public consultation in February 2026. Clarke reaffirmed the value of the cannabis social club model as a community-driven, compliant approach and encouraged participation, advocacy, and support for initiatives that empower legacy growers and protect community interests.
MBOSA’s national cannabis dialogue across the country’s nine provinces has drawn widespread support from many of the marginalized cannabis communities, especially in the western Cape. The organization, founded in 2016, has been working hard to mobilize grassroots Cannabis communities in rural areas, and sees itself as a quasi-regulator in the absence of proper cannabis laws.
MBOSA’s mission to be part of a future regulatory body on cannabis drew some flak from some delegates. Zwelonke Mambo accused MBOSA of breaking the Social Development Act by ‘taking money from people’ and said the IKS concept was available to all South Africans. “No one association should be a gatekeeper” he said.
MBOSA co-founder Thabo Simon Makwetla said the organization was not there “to dictate” but to mobilize cannabis communities to create a system where they could freely sell cannabis and related products.
He was explicit about his organization’s needs – and those of legacy communities – to be able to make a profit out of cannabis. “At the end of the day, it’s all about business” he said.
Police harassment remains the biggest problem facing legacy communities
The main obstacle to doing business remains outdated laws and the police. Andre Jochem, who was speaking from a western Cape police station where he was trying to secure the release of a man on cannabis charges, said: “The harassment continues all the time. As we speak police are raiding a brother in Delft looking for dagga. The government’s lack of whatever is one thing, but it must take the Drugs Act off the table immediately because that’s what the police use against us”.
Apart from being united in strong opposition towards police brutality, various stakeholders pointed out that the diversity of the legacy communities had to be recognized. The interests of cannabis social club were different from those of a traditional healer or Mpondo farmer, although all needed to be included in a regulatory framework.
Clarke also made the point that leaders in legacy communities were not always communicating to their people the positive developments that were taking place, for instance the Township Cannabis Incubator project which was working with the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Council on protecting landraces.
SACCA’s Nationwide Research Survey
SACCA announced the launch of a nationwide survey, designed as a comprehensive research tool to gather affidavits, testimonies, and data from legacy growers, clubs, traditional healers, and community stakeholders.
This evidence base will inform SACCA’s final Policy Paper, which is intended for submission to the DTIC and other relevant government departments, as part of the regulatory reform process.
The survey is scheduled for early 2026 and aims to ensure that the voices of marginalized cannabis communities are formally represented in national policy.
From the MC’s perspective, Snoux Poswa of the TCI succinctly summed up the overall position of legacy communties: “We are more than willing to be compliant, just give us the chance!”
SACCA organizer Albertus van Jaarsveld’s commented after the meeting: “What we saw today is that legacy communities are ready. They want clarity, they want compliance, and they want to participate legally — but the law is still holding them back. Our job is to make sure the regulatory environment finally reflects the lived realities of growers, healers, clubs, and community innovators across the country, especially within our marginalised communities. Watch this space in 2026.”
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