The DTIC has managed to get the cogs of Government moving in the same direction to implement the National Cannabis Master Plan (NCMP).
This emerged from a high-level inter-departmental engagement with the MP’s on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade Industry and Competition (TIC) on Friday, 6 February 2026.
Presentations were made by amongst others, SAHPRA, the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the Departments of Health, Agriculture and Justice, UCT business economics researcher Nqobile Bundwini, H3 Solutions Charl Botha and Mpumulanga grower Jonathan Worby, a SAHPRA-licensed cultivator.
Key Out-Takes
MP’s heard how the DTIC’s cannabis commercialization policy is starting to take shape with the:
· urgent interim measures to regulate the “Grey Zone” through cannabis retail licenses issued by the Department of Small Business,
· introduction of regulations for cannabis-infused edibles with strict marketing and dosage guidelines;
· planned introduction of a permit system by the Department of Agriculture (DoA) to allow for non-medical high-THC cannabis cultivation;
· incorporation of cannabis into the Traditional Knowledge Act, the draft regulations for which will soon be put out for public comment;
· announcement by the DoA that SAPS will be removed from the hemp permit application process;
· recent publication of the new Plant Improvement Act to accommodate the hemp sector (including the raising of the permissible THC limit in industrial cannabis to 2%)
· registration of two local hemp varietals: ARC CAN001 and ARC Can002 and hemp seed multiplication projects underway in all provinces;
· closure of public submissions on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act, and the anticipated final regulations which will be put to Parliament this year to give effect to the Act;
· imminent removal – finally – of cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act;
Introducing the three-hour session, DTIC Minister Parks Tau told MP’s that the inter-ministerial task team to co-ordinate cannabis alignment between departments was now functioning. The National Cannabis Master Plan would be implemented by a committee made up of government, labour, community and private sector stakeholders.
Cannabis Licenses Likely to be Issued by Small Business Department
John Jeffery, the DTIC’s chief co-ordinator of cannabis policy, told MP’s that the draft commercialization cannabis policy was on schedule to be presented to Cabinet next month, and thereafter being put out for public comment. He said these outcomes would be included in a final overarching cannabis bill that would be presented to Parliament by mid-2027.
He said that government planned to regulate the Grey Zone through the Department of Small Business Development (DSDB). He said the DSDB had been asked to “include provisions for ‘the licensing of cannabis businesses in the Business Act or draft Business Licensing Bill.
“This would allow for the regulated sale of cannabis” he said.
He said the Department of Science and Innovation was finalizing regulations for the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Act, in which cannabis would be included. He said draft regulations on the IK Act would be published for public comment soon with a deadline for input by the end of April 2025.
“The Minister has committed to achieving 10% annual growth in the cannabis and hemp sector, from a R14 billion base, aligned with booming global market forecasts that value the industry in the tens of billions of dollars” said Jeffery.
He said that according to a recent Stats SA report, the South African cannabis market was projected to generate R5,5 billion in 2025 “with both medical and recreational segments continuing to expand”.
UCT business economics researcher Nqobile Bundwini, said the value of the SA cannabis market had been estimated by Euromonitor to be around R36 billion, of which the legal market accounted for only R470 million. Among her recommendations was the rapid acceleration of the cannabis commercialization policy, the creation of an inclusive licensing system, the embedding of public health provisions and a tax based on THC.
Edibles to be Taxed According to THC Potency
Tara Camey of the South African Medical Research Council gave a presentation on cannabis edibles, saying the Department of Health (DoH) was preparing guidelines which would have firm restrictions on advertising and marketing, packaging and dosage. The Department was looking at taxing edibles based on their THC potency. She said there needed to be inbuilt protection for vulnerable groups such as children, young adults, pregnant and lactating women and the elderly, as consumers of edibles were prone to over-dosing themselves.
Referring to Leafly Edible Dosage Guidelines in her presentation to assist MP’s in their understanding, she said dosage guidelines would most likely be capped at 10 mg of THC per serving size with a maximum of 100 gm THC per package. She said the DoH would recommend that a regulatory board be established to monitor the sale of edibles and that third party certification would be a requirement.
Agriculture Planning to Issue Permits for High THC Cannabis Cultivation
The Department of Agriculture, which is increasingly taking control of the plant from the Health Department, said the DoA would likely start issuing permits for cannabis crops with a THC level of above 2%, which is the hemp definition threshold. This would open up the way for the legal protection of landraces.
The DoA’s Mcata Mhlauli said that by allowing the cultivation of high THC, non-medical cannabis, traditional growers would be accommodated into the system without having to go the SAHPRA licensing route. These permits will most likely be managed by the provincial agriculture departments which are currently tasked with issuing hemp permits.
He said that to date 2 031 hemp permits had been issued nationwide, that there were 15 registered hemp processors, 13 nurseries involved in propogation and 23 import permit holders.
He also said that following January’s engagement between the DoA and a stakeholder delegation led by H3 Legal Solutions, and after consultation with the DTIC, the requirement that SAPS be involved in the hemp permit application process had been dropped. He said fencing and acreage restrictions for hemp permits had also been removed.
This is a significant victory for private stakeholder activism, equalled by the assurance that key officials in government are serious about the ‘co-creation’ of cannabis regulations.
Private Sector Stakeholders Offer Straightforward Solutions with Timelines
H3’s Botha put forward a proposal of how government could rapidly introduce cannabis compliance without having to change existing regulations. He said draft cannabis regulations could be drawn up within two months allowing a legalization pilot project overseen by the DTIC and established within a three month period.
Both Botha and Mpumulanga cultivator Jonathan ‘Jonno’ Worby in his presentation, stressed the need for MP’s and the DTIC to take urgent steps to address the regulatory vacuum to prevent organized crime from taking over the cannabis retail sector.
Worby’s proposal was that the 8 000 or so cannabis outlets in the country be put at the centre of a compliance model. He suggested that they be used to register every cannabis customer – whether medical or recreational – and submit this info to a central data hub that would allow SAHPRA and other authorities to monitor cannabis usage and have the data available to meet international cannabis provisions under the 1961 Narcotics Convention.
He said that traditional growers and licensed exporters should be allowed to sell flower through cannabis outlets and that processed cannabis products be distributed to retail through GMP facilities.
“It’s astounding that we have 116 cultivators and eight manufacturers that are SAHPRA licence holders yet excluded fron supplying the 8 000 cannabis retail outlets. This should be an immediate cause for action, people!”
Justice Dept Unrepentantly Prohibitive
The one jarring note during the meeting came from the Department of Justice’s Makubela Mokulubete, a legal advisor to the Department and the point man on the Cannabis Act. In a closing statement that was in stark contrast to the willingness by other departments to engage with the private sector, he said that the Department did not consider private clubs as any kind of solution to the Cannabis Act and that such clubs remained strictly illegal. He made the pronouncement ahead of the Justice Department going through the public submissions, the deadline for which had closed the day before, on 5 March 2026.
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The TIC Portfoio Committee hearing the submissions will ultimately be responsible for responsible for presenting an overarching new ‘omnibus’ cannabis act that will define the rules of the game and establishment of a central cannabis authority to oversee the sector.
DA MP Toby Chance said “this is the most complicated issue the committee has had to deal with and we have a duty to scrutinize the issues closely, and the DTIC must get moving”.
MK MP Siyabonga Gama said the presentations were fascinating: “I did not have any inkling of the cacophony of issues involved in the insangu market” and said that further engagement with private sector stakeholders was essential.
The meeting concluded with chair Mzwandile Masina proposing that a workshop be held for MP’s to meet private sector stakeholders to understand more about the market dynamics of cannabis
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