SAPS and the Justice Department appear to be intensifying their war against cannabis despite the Presidency’s intention to legalize commercial trade in the plant.
The security cluster is totally out of alignment with government cannabis policy, and that has to be said guardedly because who really knows, four years into the National Cannabis Master Plan, what the government’s regulatory end-game actually looks like.
The latest outrage inflicted on the industry is the persecution of 35 year-old Egmant Hermon Kohrs (pictured above) of Secunda, the industrial hub of the a resident of the Mpumulanga highveld. On Friday, 10 October 2025, he pleaded guilty in the Secunda Magistrates Court to charges of manufacturing and processing drugs. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment with the option of a R100 000 fine for running a ‘drug laboratory’.
His crime? Producing cannabis oil. He was arrested and charged after the Hawks discovered five kilograms of cannabis and several containers of half-processed cannabis oil on his property. Police, who obtained a search warrant said the lab appeared “organized and equipped for ongoing production”.
The Hawks welcomed the conviction and praised investigators for their work. They also vowed to continue targeting illegal drug operations in the province.
“Our foot soldiers will always be on the ground to clamp down on these clandestine laboratories,” said Major General Nico Gerber, the Hawks’ Mpumalanga head.
He said the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation continues to monitor Mpumalanga for illegal cannabis and drug manufacturing sites.
The irony is that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition seeks to promote entrepreneurs like Kohrs in processing cannabis to start developing a homegrown cannabis economy. Under the cannabis commercialization policy being drawn up by the DTIC to be presented to cabinet next April, Kohrs’ enterprise would be entirely legal, and possibly eligible for government funding.
Earlier this year a Somerset West pensioner, Jennifer Schutte-Muntingh was sentenced to R50 000 or five years for producing cannabis healing products in what police called a major blow against crime.
Last month KZN SAPS Commissioner Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi circulated a provincial SAPS legal opinion to divisional and unit commanders pointing out that the sale of cannabis and related foodstuffs remains illegal and that officers should enforce the law. He said the public should be warned that there was going to be a clampdown on illegal cannabis operators in KwaZulu Natal.
Cannabis legal strategist Charl Botha says the KZN Legal Opinion is a dangerous document that creates “immediate and serious conflicts of law”
Botha says the Mkhwanazi memo contradicts:
- the National Commissioner’s Directive of 23 August 2023, which imposed a moratorium on arrests for private cannabis possession, cultivation, and use by adults. Under the SAPS Act, a provincial commissioner cannot override a binding national directive. Any instruction inconsistent with the National Commissioner’s guidance is ultra vires (beyond legal authority) and risks unlawful enforcement. This conflict sows confusion among SAPS officers on the ground and undermines the rule of law.
- the Prince Judgment (2018) in which the Constitutional Court emphasised that cannabis reform was about reducing unnecessary criminalisation and aligning law enforcement with rights to privacy, dignity, and autonomy.
One cannabis oil processor servicing the cannabis retail ‘Grey Zone’ told Cannabiz Africa: “This is insane. The government says it wants to build a cannabis economy, yet it’s punishing people for trying to help it do that. It’s a complete mess. There are no rules. Cannabis processors are being treated in the same way as cartels with tik-manufacturing factories. Actually, let me rephrase that…the cartels seem to be getting off more lightly.”
Another processor of cannabis tinctures, oils and edibles said “I desperately want to be legal but the current regulations make it impossible for my medicines to work properly. There is amazing market demand for cannabis health and healing products and I’m building a good business. But to be honest, I’m more anxious about the whole legal situation than I was after they lifted the edibles ban. I thought we would get some clarity on regulations after that, but nothing…..In the meantime SAPS just extorts or ignores or whatever.”
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