Mowbray resident Isakwisa Atupele Mwamasage, a Tanzanian national known as “Ras Isa” in the cannabis community, died during a SAPS ‘Stop and Search’ operation on Thursday, 28 August 2025.
In his letter to the President and 12 other government departments, dated 1 September 2025, Botha writes that “witness accounts and video evidence suggest that excessive force may have been applied, raising suspicion of asphyxiation”.
He has called for a public briefing be issued to Parliament within 14 days on both the Mwamasage investigation and the enforcement of the cannabis moratorium and what concrete disciplinary and possible criminal measures are to be taken against SAPS officers found to have violated constitutional protections.
He says that despite police statements, there have been no transparent updates on the incident which has triggered outrage in the Western Cape cannabis community.
Botha called on the President to ensure:
• Immediate disclosure of the autopsy findings.
• A public update from SAPS and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on the investigation’s progress.
• Clear protocols from SAPS on the use of force during stop-and-search procedures, particularly where alleged drug possession is suspected.
Botha points out that SAPS National Commissioner issued a moratorium on cannabis arrests in August 2023 and that this was reaffirmed by the SA Human Rights Commission at its ‘Rasta Roundtable’ meeting with the security cluster in February this year. The moratorium was also confirmed and supported by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition in Parliament in June 2025.
He has urgently requested the DTIC Minister Parks Tau and Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to table a joint statement reaffirming the moratorium and “establish an inter-departmental oversight mechanism to ensure SAPS actions do not frustrate the cannabis sector’s formalisation and growth.”
“Furthermore, we request a binding directive from the Minister of Police suspending all cannabis-related arrests until regulations defining “personal use” are published as well as public confirmation by SAPS of compliance with this directive.
Botha said that this was an urgent necessity as SAPS officers continued to:
• Conduct raids on Rastafarian communities and small growers.
• Arrest individuals engaged in lawful private cultivation and possession.
• Demand unlawful “protection” payments to avoid harassment.
Botha says these actions “directly contradict the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act (2024) and the government’s stated policy direction, threaten the rights awarded by the Constitution of South Africa and undermine the value of our Constitutional Court”.
“South Africa cannot pursue meaningful cannabis reform while SAPS corruption and unlawful arrests continue unchecked. The tragic death of Ras Isa underscores the urgency of transparency, accountability, and reform” says Botha.
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