In the realm of legal uncertainty, the police are doing what they do best, taking it out on the most vulnerable. 

The SANDF has been in action in the rural areas bordering eSwatini and Mozambique in a clampdown on cannabis smugglers.

According to a Defence Web report from 14 October 2024, soldiers from 5 South African Infantry Battalion discovered a stash of cannabis in the bush near Nyamane near Eswatini. The ‘190 kg of dagga’ that was found had an estimated street value of R789 840, according to authorities. No-one was arrested.

However, two rural women travelling in a car at Elukwatini near the eSwatini border, were not so lucky. They were stopped at an SANDF roadblock and when searched, were found to be carrying “seven bags of dagga weighing 17 kg and with a street value of R71 400. The two suspects were apprehended and taken to the South African Police Service by the Military Police” according to a police statement.

With cannabis legislation currently in a vacuum, there is uneven enforcement of existing laws which are exarcabating the class divide – as well as the gap between rural and urban areas. Middle class entrepreneurs are exploiting the legal vacuum to set up illegal cannabis outlets in the metros, and can afford to buy the cops off. Meanwhile, the authorities continue their clampdown on the informal rural cannabis industry, which is already fighting for its survival.

Cannabis activists have criticised authorities for “hollow victories” in announcing cannabis arrests as ‘victories’.  Despite the fact that cannabis is to be dropped from the Drugs Act, police are still enforcing it – randomly and at will.

In other Mpumulanga cannabis arrest news, IOL reports that a 30 year-old man was arrested after a tip-off led police to stop a truck from eSwatini on the N12 freeway close to the Dryden offramp.  

SAPS spokesman Colonel Donald Mdhluli said by members of the Delmas SAPS, Middelburg Flying Squad Unit and Mpumalanga Covert Intelligence failed to find anything. And then a K9 Unit sniffer dog was called in.

It was during this time when a hidden compartment at the back was discovered, and upon removal, 63 bales of dagga were found wrapped in brown sellotape. The bales were marked and it is suspected that the parcels were possibly packaged for distribution” he said.

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