Namibian MP’s met their Lesotho counterparts in Maseru last week for discussions on cannabis legalization. They also made a site-visit to Morama Holdings cannabis facility at Ha Buasono in the Berea district of the Mountain Kingdom for a ‘bench-marking’ exercise.

This is according to a report by Pascalinah Kabi, published in Uncensored,org on 15 October 2024.

The Namibian delegation was made up of MP’s from the portfolio committee on Gender Equality, Social Development, and Family Affairs, and was led by chairperson Gotthard Kasuto.  Lineo Griffiths of Morama Holdings hosted the MP’s and gave them a run-down on cannabis and its many medical uses.

Kasuto said on 10 October 2024 that the Namibian parliament was currently debating a motion to legalise cannabis and said the “insights gained from the visit would be instrumental in informing those discussions”.

“We also wanted to come and see, because back home we also have a motion that is seeking for the legalisation of marijuana,” Kasuto said.

He added: “Obviously when we go back home (Namibia) we will be able to see how we can replicate what they (Lesotho) are doing here. That’s the aim and the purpose of our visit here.”

Kasuto explained that in Namibia, a proposal from a company interested in growing tobacco was rejected due to community pushback.

“But here I learned that Lesotho is listed to grow cannabis. There are other health benefits which we also have learned because it goes to say even some people will understand that even some people that are asthmatic, it can also assist with that. Even people maybe that have other pains and all that, those are a lot of things that we have really learned from them." he said.

While there is potential for collaboration and learning among Southern African countries, recent developments indicate that Namibia may be cautious in pursuing cannabis cultivation.

“We don’t see the need to legalise marijuana as a way to manage pain at the present moment. We have adequate medication which can be administered intramuscularly or intravenously to act immediately,” Namibia’s Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Kalumbi Shangulahe, told The Brief in May 2024.

The Namibian visit to Lesotho may be the start of something new on the Namibian cannabis front.