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 Department of Energy and Mineral Resources is set to become a major player in the industrial cannabis sector as Petro SA incorporates hemp into its biofuels strategy. The state-owned fuel company is looking to procure huge volumes and is developing an offtake model for hemp farmers with plans to be in business by 2028.
Cilo Cybin founder Gabriel Theron (pictured here) says he’s looking to export value added cannabis products into the Europe the UK and Israel now that the group is listed on the main bourse of the JSE. He says Cilo Cybin will sit on the local market sidelines until there’s policy clarity.
South Africa’s cannabis regulatory tangle get worse by the day as Government dithers and the ‘Grey Zone’ expands with no mechanisms for standardization or consumer protection on the cards. Charl Botha of H3 Legal Solutions (pictured here) has written to the President and other key ministers suggesting five steps that would bring the coherence that’s so urgently needed for cannabis reform to proceed as the Presidency intended.
One of South Africa’s unsung heroes is Bhekokwakhe ‘Bheki’ Hamlton Cele, the former Police Minister who pioneered the capture of the country’s cannabis industry. The Cat in the Hat ensured the sector’s remarkable growth through two presidencies, kept the threat of legalization at bay, and established a flourishing empire that will survive the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into Corruption and beyond.
Updated rules for townhouse complexes now specifically allow one to grow one’s own cannabis at home and consume as much as one wants in private. Complexes that had their own rules forbidding cannabis consumption, now have to comply with the new order.
Wandile Sihlobo says it’s time for more action and less talk in the cannabis industry. The chief economist for the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agribiz) has welcomed the news that ARC is putting up a cannabis research mega-facility in Pretoria, but says the snail’s pace of legislative reform is troubling.
The major private cannabis club stakeholders have thrown their weight behind the South African Cannabis Club Alliance initiative to unify cannabis clubs. SACCA spokesperson says there is a growing awareness that urgent action is needed to ensure cannabis clubs are recognized in future law, and the key to doing this is through self-compliance.
International cartels are opening up industrial-scale drug manufacturing facilities in South Africa in what appears to be a new trend in transfrontier organized crime. This is the view of former Interpol ambassador Andy Mashaile in reaction to news that five Mexicans were arrested during the recent bust of a R350 crystal meth lab in Mpumulanga.
‘The Agricultural Research Council has put out a tender for a project manager to kickstart the construction of a 2 000 square metre cannabis facility in Pretoria. Controlled cultivation and seed multiplication are core functions for the planned research centre.
The Rastafarian community continues to be victimized by police despite attempts by the Human Rights Commission to persuade law enforcement to respect their constitutional rights. In the wake of the recent death of Ras Isa at the hands of Cape Town SAPS, a community leader has urged people to report instances of police brutality and harassment to the Independent Police Investigation Directorate (Ipid).
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