Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi (pictured here) says the regulations required to implement the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act will be finalized by March 2026. She said she was still waiting for feedback from ‘concerned’ departments before the Act could finally be published.
Kubayi said this in reply to a written question by DA MP Tobias Chance in Parliament on 20 June 2025 in which he asked what progress had been made in collaborating with other departments in getting the Act enforced.
Minister Kubayi responded that her department had prepared the regulations and had sent these on to the Ministers of Police, Health, Agriculture, Trade, Industry and Competition, Social Development, Small Business Development and the Presidency for their comment.
The regulations will then still have to be put out for public comment before being gazetted in order to give power to the Cannabis Act, which was signed off by the President over 12 months ago. The Minister says this will all be completed by the end of the current financial year, 28 February 2026. Once the regulations are published, the CfPPA will come into force.
That means that the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act will remain on the statute books seven months at least as the Cannabis Act is required to become law before cannabis is removed from the Drugs Act.
In the meantime the Department of Justice is still sitting on the draft guidelines for the NPA clarifying cannabis arrests. The NPA is reported to have met last month to discuss new regulations, but Cannabiz Africa understands that nothing was finalized.
This is the full text of the Parliamentary Question and Answer as published by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group on 20 June 2025
DA MP Toby Chance’s Question :
“What steps has she (the Justice Minister) taken in collaboration with the departments of (a) Trade, Industry and Competition, (b) Health and (c) Agriculture to review legislation regarding the legal use of cannabis and hemp to fulfil the commitment of her department in terms of the Hemp and Cannabis Phakisa Action Lab in 2023, as a presidentially convened forum”
Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi’s response:
(a) The resolution of the Phakisa Action Lab that relate to the Department is the adoption of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill with the reinsertion of earlier clauses to cover the:
(i) removal of cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, 1992 (Act No. 140 of 1992); and
(ii) re-inclusion of the reference to permits, licenses and certifications in terms of other Acts.
(b) The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act, 2024 (Act No. 7 of 2024) (the Cannabis Act) which was assented to by the President on 28 May 2024, fulfils the Phakisa Action Lab commitments to the extent that it contains section 1(2) which provides that “(2) Offences in section 4(1), (4) and (5) do not apply to any such activities that are expressly authorised in this Act or in terms of a permit or licence issued under any other national legislation.”, and also deletes cannabis and its variants from the Drugs Act.
(c) The Cannabis Act will only come into operation upon finalisation of the regulations, which have been prepared by the Department and sent to the Ministers of Police, Health, Agriculture, Trade, Industry and Competition, Social Development, Small Business Development and in the Presidency for comments.
(d) The regulations will be processed and finalised within this financial year.
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