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.
Senior Zambian cannabis regulator, Dr Prosper Sievu, says Zambia is to hit the ‘start button’ on developing its own industrial cannabis sector. He said a newly constituted Cannabis Board will start issuing hemp licenses after the August elections and that hemp trials are scheduled to begin in October 2026.
Closing arguments have been heard in the Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN) High Court application challenging the country’s anti-cannabis laws. Judge Claasen will deliver judgement on 6 July 2026 in the long-running case which could fundamentally change Namibia’s cannabis landscape.
Pioneering Malawi cannabis company Invegrow has won the Best SME Exhibitor Award at Malawi’s premier agricultural show currently underway in Blantyre. The award comes through Standard Bank’s involvement in the Malawi International Trade Fair by sponsoring a new ‘business forum’.
Namibian advocacy group GUN is using South Africa’s historic 2018 Concourt cannabis legalization ruling, as a key argument in their application to overturn existing drug laws. The Windhoek High Court considers the matter tomorrow with GUN’s application being opposed by the State.
About 60 agricultural co-ops in Malawi that invested in hemp are facing financial hardship as promised offtakes to the US vanish and government support is nowhere to be found. For many farmers the promise of ‘green gold’ has become a costly illusion.
Kenya’s Rastafarians want the legal right to consume cannabis for religious and cultural purposes. The state argues that any relaxation of drug-laws will lead to more crime and social harm. Now it’s up to the High Court to make that call and a ruling is expected next week.
Ghanaian cannabis stakeholders recently visited the US state of Vermont for a tour around cannabis and hemp facilities with a view to collaborate in developing a low-potency cannabis marketplace in the West African country.
The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) has come up with its own definitions of the kinds of cannabis it seized during the course of last year – ‘pure’ cannabis, ‘skunk’ and ‘majat’. All in all it reported confiscations amounting to almost 377 tons during 2024/5.
Gareth Prince is headline speaker at the Cheeba Cannabis and Hemp Summit 2026 which runs alongside the Cannabis Expo in Gauteng at the end of the month. The one-day event features over 30 speakers in what’s being billed as a powerful platform for deal-making, policy dialogue and investment alignment.
Cannabis links Africans across the world, and this should translate into collective mutual empowerment. That’s the vision behind Hemptech 2026 which takes place in Ghana next month to connect the African diaspora in the US with the opportunities ‘back home’.
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