One of the key outcomes of Project Indlela’s inaugural webinar, attended by around 130 people on 11 November 2025, was the commitment by officials representing government, that cannabis stakeholders will be able to have genuine input into the proposed cannabis commercialization policy.
‘We are Here to Listen and Learn’
‘’We are here to listen and learn’ said the Deputy Minister of Public Administration, Pinky Kekana, who emphasized that government was committed to inclusive cannabis reform in line with the G20 vision of sustainable development. She said she supported the aims of Project Indlela and was encouraged to see non-government stakeholders taking compliance seriously and developing a model that government could use in its own policy development.
She said she would personally take up the concerns raised by stakeholders around proposed cannabis legislation with her colleagues at a senior government level. And during the programme, John Jeffery of the TIPS unit within DTIC that is driving policy formulation, assured stakeholders that the DTIC was committed to open discussion with the industry and that consultations were an ongoing process.
“That alone was a significant signal that government sent out to the cannabis industry said Cannabiz Africa publisher, Brett Hilton-Barber, co-host of the Webinar with the South African Cannabis Club Alliance (SACCA), which was principal organizer. “I think participants found it very reassuring that government is prepared to engage with stakeholders and that their voices will not be ignored when it comes to drawing up the regulations that will govern the industry”
DTIC to Try and Rein SAPS in on Cannabis Arrests
Jeffery also said he had met new Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to raise the issue of ongoing arrests of cannabis users and that the Minister had asked him to draw up a memorandum with suggested action. Jefferey said one of the proposals was to get some kind of moratorium on arrests and hold off on a ‘Grey Zone’ clampdown pending some form of interim regulations that could be channelled through amendments to legislation governing small businesses.
Both Jeffery and Kekana outlined the complex legislation surrounding cannabis and Jeffery said this would all be cleaned up in a new ‘Omnibus Cannabis Act that would take another three years for an overarching cannabis legislation and the establishment of a Central Cannabis Authority.
The Marijuana Board of South Africa (MBOSA), used the forum to call for a national cannabis summit to be held on 420 Day next year. The call came from MBOSA’s chairperson, Tshidiso Setshogwe, who said the summit should be at a physical location to enable government and stakeholders to finalize cannabis regulations before a new Cannabis bill was drawn up.
Project Indlela convener and SACCA spokesperson Albertus van Jaarsveldt, said the desired outcome of the webinar had been achieved. This was to provide a unifying momentum within the industry that would help shape cannabis regulations to ensure that clubs, legacy communities and non-commercial cannabis interests were reflected in future policy.
Prospect Raised of National Cannabis Dialogue on 420 Day Next Year
The Project Indlela webinar provided some lively debate around it proposed ‘regional hub’ model which seeks to link traditional growers, SAHPRA registered growers and private club consumers through regionalized municipal processing hubs that would be responsible for compliance and quality. Presentations on software that could be used as a digital backbone to the model were made by Kobus Schoeman from Grow One Africa and Yolandi Montgomery of Leap Here.
MBOSA’s call for a national cannabis summit to be held on 420 day next year resonated with the partipants, among whom were legacy growers, traditional healers, small business practitioners, corporate players and SAHPRA-registered cultivators. MBOSA has been holding a series of provincial workshops to build up a grassroots network of cannabis stakeholders to ensure that they have a voice in shaping future cannabis strategy. Setshogwe said the 420 summit would be the culmination of this process.
He said that although the Project Indlela had MBOSA’s full support, it had to work hard to ensure the inclusivity of all cannabis stakeholders in new legislation. He warned that Indlela could risk replicating the exclusionary policies of the past unless it incorporated legacy growers and traditional cannabis communities.
Van Jaarsveldt responded that the project was a work in progress seeking ways of developing a workable cannabis model within the current regulatory framework and that it was not intended to be exclusionary. He said MBOSA could provide crucial input into the process going forward and that the opinions of legacy communities would be actively sought in drawing up draft regulations that could be presented to the DTIC.
Cian McLelland, who gave a presentation on behalf of the South African Cannabis and Hemp Development Association (SACHIDA) said: “I think that one of the most important aspects of helping to move this industry forwards is that we start working together. We start breaking down the walls of those silos.”
“We can’t all the to be responsible for or represent all aspects of this industry. It is so large, and it is proper that there are individual organizations that are looking at different sectors within the industry. But I think it’s very important to have a platform where those different organizations can come together and share their vision and work together for lasting and sustainable development” he said.
#
