South Africa occupies a unique position in the rapidly developing legal cannabis market. With a government that seeks to legalize and develop the cannabis and hemp sectors as a sunshine industry and a private and community sector desperately willing to engage, this should be a match made in heaven. Yet the country finds itself in a regulatory quagmire with market forces, both legal and illegal, now in control. Cannabiz Africa is your front row on the torturous journey towards a regulated adult-use commercial market.
The requirement that SAPS be part of the hemp permit approval process is constitutionally unsound and should not be part of the amended Plant Improvement Act. The Act defines cannabis for non-medical purposes as an agricultural crop under the control of the Department of Agriculture. So why, then is SAPS still involved?
Raising of THC limits in hemp to 2% will make exports more difficult but will spur the development of the local market. This is the view of SACHIDA founding member Cian McLelland, who provides the lowdown on the positives and negatives facing SA industrial cannabis now the new regulations are in place.
Cannabis is mainstreaming itself through the growing consumer health and wellness market. More people are turning to nature for solutions to the stress of everyday life and cannabis is one component in a broad consumer movement that is turning to non-pharmaceutical and organic alternatives for mental and physical health.
Wide sweeping reforms to South Africa hemp regulations have come into effect, unblocking some of the major obstacles to getting the sector going. Under the new Plant Improvement Act, cannabis becomes an agricultural crop and the acceptable THC limit in hemp has been raised tenfold to 2%.
Labat says Brian van Rooyen’s All Trading Propriety has withdrawn its offer for the group’s cannabis assets and that a revised offer has been accepted from 64P Investments for R10 million. In terms of the deal, Labat will not require shareholder approval for the sale as 64P is not deemed to be a ‘related party’
Cannabis reform was meant to be about empowering farmers but instead it’s empowering Pharma. Across the world Big Pharma is rewriting the agricultural handbook. It not only wants a slice of the cannabis action, it wants to own the plant and control access too. Now, the hands that once nurtured the plant are being told they are no longer clean enough to touch it.
Key traditional cannabis communities have responded positively to Project Indlela’s call for a national dialogue and will participate in next week’s webinar on ‘Inclusivity’. The webinar, scheduled for next Tuesday, 2 December 2025, is on the theme: Restoring the Roots Unlocking the Cannabis Economy for Legacy Communities,
Legitimate cannabis ‘Grey Zone’ operators should welcome the SAPS Western Cape ‘good faith’ data gathering exercise – provided it’s not a trigger for a ‘cannabis hunt’. This is the view of Charl Botha of H3 Legal Solutions, who advises the managers of cannabis outlets to have this document on hand, for immediate use when SAPS members request information from cannabis-related outlets.
The initiative by the SAPS Western Cape to get a grip on the ‘Grey Zone’ for ‘market research’ purposes should be supported by cannabis operators. That’s the view of H3 Legal Solutions’ Charl Botha who says cannabis businesses should take up the ‘good faith’ approach offered by law enforcement, but should watch their backs anyway.
Cilo Cybin has reported a R212 million loss for the six months ending 30 September 2025. The directors say this is due to an accounting adjustment following the reverse listing of Cilo Cybin Pharmaceuticals into the JSE-listed company, and that the group is net cash positive and good to go.
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