The missing R11-million meant for Mpondoland Cannabis Belt Association farmers appears to have fallen victim to creative accounting at the Eastern Cape administration level. Cannabiz Africa has been reliably informed that the national Small Business Development Department did indeed disburse the funds to the provincial government for cannabis programmes in Mpondoland.
But from there that the money trail goes cold.
“I remember because I was at home in Matatiele in September 2024 and attended a meeting at which provincial authorities confirmed that the money had already been received but could not be allocated as yet,” said EFF MP and Small Business Development Portfolio Committee member Babalwa Mathulelwa.
Mathulelwa would not name the Eastern Cape government provincial member who pledged the funds, but said she would get to the bottom of what happened to the money.
According to Mathulelwa, a directive was given at the meeting for farmers to register and get membership cards so that they could receive their grants through one of the respective nine municipalities that make up Mpondoland Cannabis Belt Association (MCBA). These include O.R. Tambo, Post St. Johns, Nyandeni, Ntabankulu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Ingquza Hill.
She told Cannabiz Africa that the reasons given for not disbursing the money quickly raised suspicion as they did not sound convincing.
Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni in January promised an internal investigation to uncover the money’s trail after Mathulelwa raised the matter in a Parliamentary question.
Mathulelwa filed the query as Question No. 1237 on 27 November last year, asking what happened to the money and the reasons why it didn’t reach the association.
“The budget allocated for the cannabis programme in the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) was not ring-fenced for a particular entity and is disbursed on demand upon applications by qualifying entities. It was designed as a catalyst fund to assist this nascent industry especially the emerging farmers in this sector. Plans are still in place to make sure that the programme is implemented as planned by the end of March 2026,” SBD Minister Stella Ndabeni stated in her reply.
Following on from this development, the Parliamentary Committee on Small Business Development undertook an oversight visit to the Eastern Cape in February 2026 to assess the impact of the support programme. Mathulelwa was part of the multi-party visiting delegation and reports that the portfolio members’ meeting with MCBA “was infiltrated”.
She is convinced there are lead cannabis sector players in the province with knowledge of what happened to the R11-million, .
Contacted by Cannabiz Africa, MCBA co-founder Philasande Mahlakata said she was unaware of what happened to missing millions.
“I founded the MCBA and invited people to join the organisation,” she said. However for the whole of last year the MCBA had been taken over by members who she recruited, she said and she had not been involved in any of its activities. She said her focus was on the smaller Abalimi Bomya Association which she founded in 2022.
Cannabiz Africa will keep you posted on where the Mathuilelwa’s Mpondoland money hunt leads.
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