Although Lesotho legalized cannabis exports in 2018, Africa has been a slow starter in joining the ranks of those countries pushing for reform and regulated markets. Although fewer than a quarter of the continent’s countries have partially legalized cannabis, primarily medical cannabis for export and industrial hemp, Africa has the potential to be a future powerhouse on the international cannabis stage. Stay in the loop with all the news, policy, legislative, regulatory and market developments with Cannabiz Africa, your reliable content guide to the African cannabis environment.
Botswana’s ‘been in the news headlines lately with the release of its inaugural license fees and the Last Mile’ Conference in Gaborone last week to chart a way forward in creating a legal medical cannabis industry. SACHIDA’s Cian McLelland was a keynote speaker at the conference at which the importance of landrace was highlighted.
While the Namibian government contemplates easing the country’s prohibitive cannabis laws, a Windhoek High Court judge has added a twist to the tail. Deputy Judge President Hannelie Prinsloo has rejected an application asking her to declare the law criminalising possession as unconstitutional.
Bad news awaits the first wave of Zimbabwean cannabis cultivators who’s licenses come up for renewal as their five year validity comes to an end. The handful who are still in business will have to pay an unforeseen, once-off US20 000 renewal fee, a fresh setback for a sector yet to generate any sustainable exports.
Botswana hosts the First Mile Cannabis Conference on 30 January 2026 which puts medical cannabis on the map, now a hemp framework has been established. The Africa Canada Chamber of Commerce Conference and Expo will look specifically at how medical cannabis can fit into Botswana’s evolving cannabis development programme.
High license fees could complicate the transfrontier cannabis landrace initiative between SACHIDA and Botswana’s agricultural researchers, but as SACHIDA’s Cian McLelland says, ‘we’ll see where that conversation goes” when the Association visits Gaberone this weekend for the Canda Africa Cannabis and Hemp Trade Expo.
Morocco’s illegal cannabis industry appears to be growing despite the development of the Kingdom’s legal market. Spanish police say the Moroccan hash smuggling networks into Europe are getting more sophisticated, with helicopters now being used to transport contraband across the Mediterranean.
A leading player in the fledgling Botswana industrial cannabis industry, Oratile Masala, has called on the Government to explain the rationale behind the exorbitant hemp license fees gazetted this month. Masala, who is the Hemp Business Summit CEO, says the fees are “unrealistic, unfair and exclusionary’, as Africa Editor John Makoni reports.
Botswana’s recently released its industrial cannabis license fees which will be well beyond the affordabiity of the local farming and small business community. There are seven license categories with different fees for citizens, non-citizens and joint ventures.
The evolution of cannabis policy in Africa bears a striking resemblance to the colonial expansion of the 19th century. Without exception, every African state that has partially legalized cannabis is doing so to earn foreign exchange at the expense of using the plant’s potential in public healthcare or job creation.
Botswana’s new cannabis framework has been described as ‘the most detailed cannabis control regime’ in Africa. The Cannabis Act of 2025, published on 12 January 2026, favours big business in that it’s export-orientated, prohibits adult-use and does not allow for the developmet of a domestic cannabis economy.
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