The Phakisa momentum builds as the Presidency unveils practical steps to kickstart the cannabis economy The Phakisa momentum builds as the Presidency unveils practical steps to kickstart the cannabis economy products. 5 August 2023 at 13:00:00 Brett Hilton-Barber The Presidency has selectively released its Phakisa The Phakisa is the first voice of reason to emerge from South African officialdom on cannabis policy DALLRD were co-hosts for the initiative and input from The Phakisa “workstreams” will be incorporated

Labat Africa CEO Brian van Rooyen says The Phakisa has created a new momentum in the South African cannabis Labat Africa CEO Brian van Rooyen says The Phakisa has created a new momentum in the South African cannabis He told BusinessDay TV on 28 July 2023 that the Phakisa Hemp and Cannabis Action Lab initiative showed Click here, to advertise your brand, product and or service The Phakisa is the Light at the End of the

DALRRD) has published a reworked Plant Improvement Act that is out of step with the Presidency’s The Phakisa DALRRD) has published a reworked Plant Improvement Act that is out of step with the Presidency’s The Phakisa This runs counter to The Phakisa’s intention to classify South Africa’s landraces as “industrial cannabis product and or service New Plant Improvement Amendment Act Still Stuck with THC Limits Despite The Phakisa

at 08:00:00 Brett Hilton-Barber, Cannabiz Africa The Presidency made much fanfare of last June’s The Phakisa The Phakisa’s Final Report said that “The Steerco is representative of the social partners securing sufficient It's now become apparent that the Presidency went ahead and set up Steerco after the Phakisa but did Earlier this year, Cannabiz Africa asked whether The Phakisa initiative had run out of steam? FGFA director Myrtle Clark said in a post on 23 October 2024 that “The outcome document from the Phakisa

The Phakisa’s Founding Policy Principles That Will Shape the Future of SA’s Cannabis Industry One of Cannabiz Africa/Luva Cataka, News 24 18 September 2023 at 10:00:00 PREVIOUS NEXT The Phakisa’s Founding

The result was the Phakisa Cannabis and Hemp Action Lab document, which is a uniquely Afro-centric approach Among the Phakisa recommendations were to classify all cannabis as ‘industrial’, thereby doing away with Perhaps someone at the Presidency could hand over the Phakisa file to someone at Trade and Industry.

, along with the Presidency of the breakthrough policy meeting with stakeholders in June 2023 – The Phakisa wiser to classify local landraces as industrial cannabis despite whatever THC levels they have and The Phakisa

In the wake of The Phakisa, the DTICC is spearheading the development of a commercial cannabis framework In the wake of The Phakisa, the DTICC is spearheading the development of a commercial cannabis framework

These were realities surfaced at last June’s The Phakisa Cannabis and Hemp Action Lab, where five days Although the Presidency got the plot with The Phakisa project, it has failed to follow through on its “Perhaps the new administration will introduce fresh momentum to The Phakisa, which is actually a good

Last year Rwanda issued the first cannabis industry guidelines focusing on medical and industrial cannabis for export. Kigali has now set aside a large tract of land as a cannabis hub and is looking for investors. Read More Africa has missed out on the first wave of cannabis legalization that has swept the Americas and Europe. Exports have not lived up to expectation and there has been limited local market development. African cannabis is now at an impasse and is being left further behind as international markets grow exponentially . Read More Morocco is Africa’s largest exporter of cannabis, mostly hemp for industrial purposes. However, cannabis reform has faltered with record crops and lower prices, prompting traditional growers to call for a legal domestic adult-use market to be legalized. Read More Namibian police are concerned that the country is becoming a “nation of drug addicts and drug dealers". This follows the arrest of 126 people in December for drug-related offences, the appearance of metamphetamine in the country and the increasing use of Namibians as ‘drug mules’. Read More ZIDA has put out a call for investors to fund an ambitious US$16,9 million ‘industrial hemp and cannabis hub' at Goromonzi, 40 km east of Harare. Read More Kenya has taken the first step towards realizing the potential of industrial cannabis with a landmark hemp workshopping conference planned for Nairobi on 20 January 2025. Read More Cannabis reform in Africa is taking a very different route from the legalization in other jurisdictions as the continent’s policy-makers see the plant simply as a drug. That approach means that cannabis is lumped in the same category as heroin, metamphetamines and cocaine which tends to obscure the real drug problem - Africa's growing synthetic drugs crisis. Read More Africa faces numerous hurdles if it is ever to realize its potential to become a global leader in medical cannabis production. Among those challenges are balancing policy, economic growth and social norms. With lazy, conservative thinking entrenched in post-colonial governments across the continent, Africa is many years away from any hope of being a player in the world medical cannabis arena. Read More A ground-breakng new ‘psycho-pharma research centre has been launched at the University of Pretoria to delve into the mysteries of African psychedelics and other medicinal plants to explore their potential to treat modern mental health conditions. Read More Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) has noted farmers showing a growing interest in medical cannabis Zimbabwe for medicinal purposes, but production challenges are slowing the growth of the sector. Read More Where have we heard this before? Well, in South Africa, Lesotho, eSwatini, Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco and just about every other African country that has legalized cannabis for export. Now Malawi joins their ranks in a sad but familiar repeat from the African cannabis playbook, with Invegrow being its only success story to date. Read More Earlier this year Ghana’s Chamber of Commerce set up a specialist division to help establish a regulated cannabis industry in the West African country. The CCI’s CEO Mark Darko writes how Ghana is taking the regional lead in creating a commercial medicinal and industrial cannabis industry. Read More There’s growing controversy in Kenya over the role and status of muguku, a variety of the popular stimulant known as khat or miraa. Government is obliged to fund farmers who grow the plant, but now there is kickback from critics who say it’s contributing to the country’s addiction crisis. Read More Uganda has now become a market for heroin whereas in the past it was ‘merely’ a distribution hub. This is the story of the new colonialism sweeping Africa as international criminal organizations move in with a new form of wealth-generating oppression to inflict on the natives: substance addiction. Read More eSwatini has taken the ‘War Against Drugs’ to a new level entirely, with the National Police Commissioner giving an order to police on 9 October 2024 to destroy all cannabis fields in the country. There is suspicion in eSwatini that the motivation is political and that cannabis operators with links to the royal family are getting rid of their opposition. Read More The SANDF has praised its soldiers for their “commitment and dedication to the sovereignty of the state” for arresting two rural women with 17 kg of cannabis near the eSwatini border. SANDF border patrols also discovered 190 kg of cannabis in an unrelated action in the same area of eastern Mpumulanga. Read More A recent Cheeba Africa webinar on 'Hemp as Food', revealed the huge potential for industrial cannabis to be used as a healthy foodstuff. Although hemp is ideal for boosting young brains, the stigma surrounding cannabis is blocking health authorities from allowing hemp-based food products to be used in school feeding schemes. Read More

Last year Rwanda issued the first cannabis industry guidelines focusing on medical and industrial cannabis for export. Kigali has now set aside a large tract of land as a cannabis hub and is looking for investors. Read More Africa has missed out on the first wave of cannabis legalization that has swept the Americas and Europe. Exports have not lived up to expectation and there has been limited local market development. African cannabis is now at an impasse and is being left further behind as international markets grow exponentially . Read More Morocco is Africa’s largest exporter of cannabis, mostly hemp for industrial purposes. However, cannabis reform has faltered with record crops and lower prices, prompting traditional growers to call for a legal domestic adult-use market to be legalized. Read More Namibian police are concerned that the country is becoming a “nation of drug addicts and drug dealers". This follows the arrest of 126 people in December for drug-related offences, the appearance of metamphetamine in the country and the increasing use of Namibians as ‘drug mules’. Read More ZIDA has put out a call for investors to fund an ambitious US$16,9 million ‘industrial hemp and cannabis hub' at Goromonzi, 40 km east of Harare. Read More Kenya has taken the first step towards realizing the potential of industrial cannabis with a landmark hemp workshopping conference planned for Nairobi on 20 January 2025. Read More Cannabis reform in Africa is taking a very different route from the legalization in other jurisdictions as the continent’s policy-makers see the plant simply as a drug. That approach means that cannabis is lumped in the same category as heroin, metamphetamines and cocaine which tends to obscure the real drug problem - Africa's growing synthetic drugs crisis. Read More Africa faces numerous hurdles if it is ever to realize its potential to become a global leader in medical cannabis production. Among those challenges are balancing policy, economic growth and social norms. With lazy, conservative thinking entrenched in post-colonial governments across the continent, Africa is many years away from any hope of being a player in the world medical cannabis arena. Read More A ground-breakng new ‘psycho-pharma research centre has been launched at the University of Pretoria to delve into the mysteries of African psychedelics and other medicinal plants to explore their potential to treat modern mental health conditions. Read More Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) has noted farmers showing a growing interest in medical cannabis Zimbabwe for medicinal purposes, but production challenges are slowing the growth of the sector. Read More Where have we heard this before? Well, in South Africa, Lesotho, eSwatini, Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco and just about every other African country that has legalized cannabis for export. Now Malawi joins their ranks in a sad but familiar repeat from the African cannabis playbook, with Invegrow being its only success story to date. Read More Earlier this year Ghana’s Chamber of Commerce set up a specialist division to help establish a regulated cannabis industry in the West African country. The CCI’s CEO Mark Darko writes how Ghana is taking the regional lead in creating a commercial medicinal and industrial cannabis industry. Read More There’s growing controversy in Kenya over the role and status of muguku, a variety of the popular stimulant known as khat or miraa. Government is obliged to fund farmers who grow the plant, but now there is kickback from critics who say it’s contributing to the country’s addiction crisis. Read More Uganda has now become a market for heroin whereas in the past it was ‘merely’ a distribution hub. This is the story of the new colonialism sweeping Africa as international criminal organizations move in with a new form of wealth-generating oppression to inflict on the natives: substance addiction. Read More eSwatini has taken the ‘War Against Drugs’ to a new level entirely, with the National Police Commissioner giving an order to police on 9 October 2024 to destroy all cannabis fields in the country. There is suspicion in eSwatini that the motivation is political and that cannabis operators with links to the royal family are getting rid of their opposition. Read More The SANDF has praised its soldiers for their “commitment and dedication to the sovereignty of the state” for arresting two rural women with 17 kg of cannabis near the eSwatini border. SANDF border patrols also discovered 190 kg of cannabis in an unrelated action in the same area of eastern Mpumulanga. Read More A recent Cheeba Africa webinar on 'Hemp as Food', revealed the huge potential for industrial cannabis to be used as a healthy foodstuff. Although hemp is ideal for boosting young brains, the stigma surrounding cannabis is blocking health authorities from allowing hemp-based food products to be used in school feeding schemes. Read More

BREAKING South African News Cannabiz Africa brings you the hottest breaking South African cannabis news right here! From crucial developments in laws and reform to socio-economic changes in the industry. Find your latest dose of breaking news right here and stay onto of the earliest developments! Wednesday, 19 February 2025 marks 100 years of cannabis prohibition. In 1925, the Geneva Opium Convention declared 'Indian Hemp' as a banned substance. Although there are sweeping gains across the world, the prohibitionist mindset is far from over. Activist Myrtle Clarke, co-founder of FGFA says that unfortunately, when it comes to cannabis legalization, prohibitionist thinking remains alive and well in South Africa. Read The owner of Durban private cannabis club Rooftop 420 has been arrested with three other club managers and all have been charged with illegally selling and distributing THC products four years ago. Read The Lusikisiki Agreement between legacy growers and government agencies has fallen apart before the proverbial ink has dried. Mpondoland farmers have accused Government of breaking its word that no hemp would be introduced into the area without consultation and intends mobilizing local communities to resist Medigrow’s plans to distribute hemp seeds in the area. Read The quiet announcement by the DTICC that product testing will be compulsory in funding applications is hugely significant says Qure's Brenda Marx. She says this requirement signals the start of a standardization process across the industry and will encourage laboratories to work more closely together. Read The DTIC has issued new guidelines for entities seeking funding and has appointed Afriplex, NAFS, Qure and Vinlab as its official cannabis testing labs. The Department says funding applications for product development has to be accompanied by product test results from one of these four service providers. Read The Department of Public Works tore down the ramshackle residence of self-styled King Khoisan SA, this week. This effectively ends the King’s seven year protest occupation at Pretoria’s Union Buildings, where he became a tourist attraction, championing cannabis and indigenous rights. Read Private sector cannabis stakeholders have taken an upbeat view of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s brief reference to cannabis and hemp in last week’s SONA. The fact that the word ‘commercial’ passed the President’s lips, has elicited an initial positive response from a fragmented industry awaiting guidelines on the way forward. Read Since the landmark 2018 Concourt ruling, South African cannabis sector has been shaped by court decisions rather than driven by Government policy-makers. This has resulted in conflicting spheres of influence behind the scenes, the consequence of which is today’s seriously dysfunctional cannabis industry. Read The first hemp seeds have been distributed to a select group of Eastern Cape farmers as part of Medigrow’s ambitious Coega-based industrial cannabis partnership with the provincial government. Read Leading South African cannabis activist, Ras Gareth Prince, says 'whites and Indians' are the main beneficiaries of the cannabis ‘grey zone’ retail boom while police continue their persecution of indigenous communities. He has accused Government of deepening South Africa’s racial divide by its lack of regulation around the cannabis industry. Read In the last week police in Mpumulanga have arrested four men and seized a total of 1,6 tons of cannabis in stop-and-search operations in the area between White River and Louw’s Creek. Read Labat CEO Brian van Rooyen has resigned as CEO of the JSE-listed group as it announces a shift in strategy by moving into the IT space through the acquisition of Classic International Trading. He will be replaced by Irfaan Mohammed, who says the group will be reviewing the risks associated with the cannabis sector and decide on the appropriate way forward. Read Cape Town cannabis lab Eco Green Analytics has entered the traditional medicine research field by partnering with the Pretoria-based Southern Centre for Indigenous Psycho Pharma (SCIPP). It will offer its services to analyse medicines used by traditional healers and psylocibin mushrooms in a quest to unlock the therepeutic benefits of indigenous plants. Read A grassroots initiative between local and central government to develop a cannabis economy in Mpondoland in the Eastern Cape is being spearheaded by the provincial development agency ECRDA. The development has now been formalized with an agreement at Luskisiki that brings together seven municipalities in the heartland of cannabis country into a common cannabis vision. Read Police have arrested two men in a raid on a ‘grey zone’ producer of cannabis and related products outside Newcastle in KZN. They seized a range of consumer products and dismantled a hydroponics lab and processing equipment. Read Medigrow’s billion rand Coega industrial cannabis project gets underway this month as equipment arrives on site in the Eastern Cape and the first hemp seeds are ready for delivery to small-scale rural growers. Read One of South Africa’s key medical cannabis players is pulling its CBD range from the local market completely because of the regulatory morass. Cilo Cybin says until such time as Government issues clear regulatory guidelines for the cannabis industry, it will pursue an export-only strategy. Read Cilo Cybin Holdings has about R60 million in available capital as it goes into the new year. The group has just released its latest financials showing a healthy return on its investment income to date, but now that it has bedded down its assets, shareholders have high hopes this capital will be put to good effect in the year ahead. Read South Africa’s ‘Medical Cannabis Ambassador’, Dr Shiksha Gallow, recently trained and certified 40 doctors in medical cannabis in the Philippines where the practice is generally outlawed. She was keynote speaker at a conference pushing to legalize medical cannabis and urged the Manilla government to accept the legitimacy of cannabis as a healing plant. Read There has never been more choice and greater convenience for South African cannabis consumers than what the retail ‘grey zone’ is offering right now. Although this sector is completely illegal, it has grown rapidly enough for credible consumer behaviour trends to emerge. These are the three to look out for. Read The DTIC must urgently take regulatory action to level the playing field in South Africa's cannabis industry and prevent the ‘wild west’ situation from spiralling further out of control. This is the plea from Silverleaf Investments, which argues that the current ‘grey zone’ is a significant setback for legitimate companies striving to earn an honest income in the cannabis sector. Read Leading agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo (pictured here) has called on South Africa’s provinces to pressurize national government into putting the right regulations in place to develop South Africa’s cannabis industry. Regulations, he emphasizes, are essential to guiding the market in an orderly way. Read King Khoisan SA had become a tourist attraction at Pretoria’s seat of state where for years he paraded semi-naked and grew cannabis in a protest for indigenous rights. Now he has been formally evicted by Public Works only to be badly injured in a car accident in the Eastern Cape Read A quarter of South Africa’s SAHPRA-licensed cannabis growers have been deregistered in the past three months. This reflects the difficulties export cultivators are facing in their struggle to crack international markets, tied-up capital and surplus inventory. Read The SPCA tracked down a Limpopo man, who went viral for smoking dagga from a bong containing a live snake, and got him sentenced for his "reprehensible "actions. Read The South African cannabis industry has gone through a painful few years, constrained by Government’s slow and shambolic approach to regulatory reform. The irony is that to date the ‘grey zone’ appears to have benefitted the most so far from the Constitutional Courts 2018 decision to legalize private consumption, while other sectors of the cannabis economy have lagged behind. So what lies in store for SA cannabis in the year ahead? Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber has a look ahead. Read Police are allegedly targeting Rastafarians and other cannabis users on the N7 highway that serves the Cape West Coast. Veteran cannabis activist Garth Prince says there have been numerous reports that police make the arrests to ‘steal’ the suspects’ cannabis, a practice that has been going on for years. Read The legal swords are being drawn in a new Constitutional Court challenge around plant medicine – this time psilocybin, also known as ‘magic mushrooms’. The apex court application to have psilocybin decriminalized along the same lines as cannabis was lodged last year. Now the State has given notice it intends to fight this as part of its ‘war against drugs’. Read New year has bought good news for Labat Africa. On 31 December 2024, the JSE lifted its 14 month suspension on the trading of the group’s shares after it finally posted its outstanding financials. Read The ‘grey zone’ domestic cannabis retail market has exploded in 2024 has left regulators trailing in the dust. Although the sale of cannabis illegal unless it’s prescribed under Section 21 of the Medicines Act, thousands of ‘informal’ traders have brazenly opened shop across South Africa’s, selling cannabis flower and a host of related THC and CBD products. Read JSE-listed Cilo Cybin Holdings has just concluded its first major acquisition – the anticipated purchase of CC Pharmaceuticals. The multi-million rand deal will result in CCH taking control of the company’s Gauteng cultivation and processing facility and sets it up for growth in the cannabis healthcare space. Read The South African Human Rights Commission has raised alarms over ongoing arrests of Rastafari and cannabis users despite cannabis being decriminalised in South Africa. Read Labat has shifted the focus of its Sweetwaters cannabis cultivation facility away from exports to servicing the domestic market. It’s done so to meet the huge consumer demand generated by its expanding CannAfrica nationwide retail footprint. Read Now that cannabis is to be removed from the Drugs Act, the next big challenge is how it is incorporated into a new National Drug Master Plan. The old one has just expired and a review is underway on how cannabis should be dealt with in substance abuse and crime prevention strategies and laws going forward. Read Central to government’s cannabis development vision is the concept of public/private sector partnerships. One such venture that has successfully emerged in Gauteng is VitaCann Pharm’s incubation by the provincial agriculture department which has turned its Carltonville facility into a fully-fledged export business. Read Labat Africa’s historical losses are coming to light as the JSE-listed company gets its books up to date. It’s lost a ton of money in its quest to be South Africa’s cannabis heavyweight as it tries to find the right business mix to navigate unfavourable regulations. Read The NPA says the Traditional Healers Act is being used as a front for cannabis retail and is illegal. This may be the case now, but there’s a whole debate coming about what constitutes medicine as the Government moves to bring traditional healers into the mainstream via a new set of regulations. Read A young Gauteng entrepreneur, Moishe Schneider, has introduced South American plant medicine into the South African alternative plant therapy scene. He is championing the the Huachuma cactus plant from Peru as a ‘heart opening’ medicine in his initiative, the Healing House. Read KZN’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) has put out a call to prospective hemp farmers in the province who need support, to make contact by the end of January 2025 at any of their local offices. Read Free State University geneticist Dr Marieka Gryzenhout, the author of the first formal study of psilocybin in South Africa, has been recognized by Stanford University as among the top 2 % of scientists in the world. Read A ground-breakng new ‘psycho-pharma research centre has been launched at the University of Pretoria to delve into the mysteries of African psychedelics and other medicinal plants to explore their potential to treat modern mental health conditions. Read Who knows what the National Cannabis Master Plan’s Steering Committee is up to? Well, whatever that is they should put it aside immediately to consider an “urgent” request by the Marijuana Board of South Africa to hold an “inquiry” into leading cannabis law firm, Cullinan and Associates in the interests of ‘transparency’. Read President Ramaphosa must think cannabis reform is in for a bit of song and dance because he’s appointed Nelson Mandela’s ‘Imbobgi Yesizwe’ to represent traditional leaders on the National Cannabis Master Plan’s Steering Committee. Read Heaven help any poor prosecutor trying to make sense of “Dagga Shops Dealing in Dagga, a Practical Guide’, prepared by the National Prosecuting Authority in KZN. The document, prohibitionist by nature and confusing in presentation, indicates the NPA’s approach to cannabis offences now that the Drugs Act is on the way out. Read The first signs have emerged that South Africa is heading for a fentanyl crisis. Clinics in KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape report that patients have, for the first time, tested positive for the opioid that has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States. Read Cheeba Africa has formed a partnership with the Township Cannabis Incubator to set up a cannabis training and market development drive in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. The aim to match skills and business incubation to take on poverty in the heartland of South African cannabis. Read Labat Africa will post a 3,7 cents headline loss per share for the year ending May 2024 which is not half as bad as the previous corresponding period. It’s also changed its company secretary at the insistence of a third party who may provide financial assistance. Read The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act will replace the Drugs Act as the main tool in the Justice Department’s kit to punish cannabis offences – as soon as that law is promulgated. Here’s a summary of the new sanctions contained in the Act Read Section 21 of the Medicines Act is the only way South Africans can buy cannabis legally so there's obviously been a surge of new ‘grey zone’ operators offering this service. Given that Section 21 itself is being so widely interpreted, where does the line of compliance lie? Cannabiz Africa spoke to market leader Synergy Wellness to find out more. Read ARC has spent the last two years studying the diseases affecting cannabis and hemp. Field trips in Limpopo and Gauteng have identified a number of threats to mono-cultural cannabis cultivation and government researchers are using this data to put together appropriate crop health strategies. Read E Cape Premier Wants a "Regulatory Sandbox" in Place Urgently to Enable Medigrow's Multimillion Rand Coega Cannabis Investment Read Cheeba Africa operates at a foundational level in cannabis development, providing the basic skills, training and education that is the bedrock of any sunrise industry. After years of persistence it has finally clinched official recognition for its Higher Certificate in Cannabis Production & Management course, providing a new basic industry standard. Read The DTIC is putting together a “hemp value-change development plan” which will be put to the private sector and other ‘social partners’ to sign off. A key part of the plan is to raise the acceptable THC percentage in hemp from 0,2% to 2%. Read It’s official: the President’s cannabis advisor Garth Strachan has admitted that the fledgling South African cannabis industry is in a ‘free for all’ because of a “crisis of ‘illegality’. Read Cannabis consumption in shared areas of sectional title schemes is not on, but what about growing plants on your balcony or smoking in your living room? Well, that depends on the rules of the complex you’re in and the definition of ‘nuisance factor’. Read JSE-listed Labat Africa is to acquire a 75,55% stake in IT company Classic International Trading in a paper deal worth R16,75 million. The purchase is contingent on Labat producing its outstanding financials, and if the JSE lifts the suspension of its shares, Classic will underwrite the group's liabilities going forward. Read A man has been arrested during a raid on an illicit R10 million hydroponic cannabis grow op near Potchefstroom in North West Province where home-made weapons were also seized. Read South Africa’s vibrant cannabis club culture continues to face legal uncertainty after hopes that a SCA ruling in the THC case would provide finality. However, a last-minute out of court settlement put paid to that and the legal advice to private club owers is: tread carefully and stick to the Prince Judgement. Read Judgement has been reserved in a Mbombela court case in which the eSwatini Prime Minister is tryng to gag the rebel Swaziland News, accusing it of terrorism and defamation. Part of the PM’s objection is that the paper reported without substantiating its sources, that King Mswati III is involved in the Kingdom’s illegal cannabis trade. Read The Haze Club has reached an out-of court settlement with the Justice Department on its appeal court application to have private cannabis clubs legally recognized. The details of the settlement are confidential and in the absence of a court ruling, the legal status of cannabis clubs remains uncertain. Read GrowOneAfrica is one of South Africa’s leading cannabis service providers and the dominant enabler in the private cannabis club movement. Based in the Western Cape, G1A has pioneered a self-regulating club model that has created millions of rand in value, over a thousand jobs and serves over 9 000 members. Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber takes a deep dive into the GrowOneAfrica story with CEO Kobus Schoeman and GM Vanessa de Sousa (pictured above). Read Sika is a name that has cropped up over the past few months in the cannabis ‘grey zone’ where a number of outlets have signed up to their specialized services. Who is Sika and what do they do? Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber speaks to Sika founder and CEO Sandy Gounder to find out more Read An undated press release from SAPS and SAHPRA says no cannabis retail outlets are allowed except in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act. It also says businesses operating under the Traditional Health Practitioners Act are illegal. Read The Cannabis Expo makes a return to Gauteng in May next year. It will coincide with the Cheeba Cannabis and Hemp Summit marking the emergence of the cannabis industry from a difficult few years. Read Presidential cannabis advisor Garth Strachan acknowledges the pace of cannabis reform has been slow but says that now the DTIC is in the saddle, there should be more momentum. Here is his summary of the current state of regulatory play in the cannabis sector. Read As most of the cannabis community that has borne the brunt of the law is strongly aware: police are not trained to think. SAPS is about to embark on a mass recruitment drive but until such time that recruits are taught not just to obey orders but to make decisions, there will be no curbing South Africa’s high crime levels. Read South Africa’s new Trade and Industry Minister, Parks Tau has been given the task of bringing other Government departments into line on cannabis policy. He’s also going to be responsible for drawing up appropriate legislation to enable cannabis reform. Read SAHPRA says authorities have raided ‘grey zone’ cannabis outlets in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and have taken ‘appropriate enforcement actions’ against them. It says there is no such thing as a dispensary license and anyone selling cannabis to the public should face the ‘full might of the law’. Read Despite billions of rands in investment, South Africa’s medical cannabis industry continues to face an uphill battle, not least of which are a surplus of unsold inventory and a lack of return. New cannabis player Nexus Pharma has built its business model around tackling these challenges to market South African medical cannabis internationally. Read Extracting active compounds from cannabis for medicinal purposes is a fast-growing industry world-wide. The enormous impact this could have on the local cannabis industry has seized the imagination of a Stellenbosch University chemical engineering team who have developed and patented a unique extraction process involving the purification of plant wax to preserve active compounds Read The oKhahlamba (Bergville) local municipality in the far KwaZulu Natal Midlands has harvested its second low-THC cannabis crop and has secured central government funding for a cannabis processing facility in the area. Read SAHPRA’s government grant has been declining for years and the regulatory authority is increasingly reliant on fee income, which it says is a “high risk situation”. It has appealed to Treasury for further funding saying that it is understaffed and needs to invest in technical infrastructure. Read It has come to light that the Presidency set up a committee of non-government stakeholders a year ago to help rebuild the National Cannabis Master Plan. However, the committee, which was set up in secret, has been meeting behind closed doors with no communication to the broader cannabis community as to what it has been discussing. This has raised concern among activists and the business community, as the Presidency had promised to be transparent. Read Authorities urgently need to come up with regulations to govern the hundreds of “grey zone” cannabis outlets that have emerged in the past 12 months. Hempvest CEO Zaid Mohidin has called for a cannabis retail licensing system to be implemented allowing licenced growers to supply licenced outlets – otherwise organized crime is going to move into this space to enhance its own interests. Read Sources close to SAHPRA say a clampdown on the ‘misuse’ of medical cannabis prescriptions is on its way. The regulator is concerned that many ‘Section 21’ medical cannabis patients are actually using their prescriptions for ‘recreational’ purposes and intends taking remedial action. Read The SANDF has praised its soldiers for their “commitment and dedication to the sovereignty of the state” for arresting two rural women with 17 kg of cannabis near the eSwatini border. SANDF border patrols also discovered 190 kg of cannabis in an unrelated action in the same area of eastern Mpumulanga. Read The legalization of cannabis is forcing businesses to change their labour policies. Being tested positive for cannabis is not sufficient in itself to bring disciplinary charges against an employee, there has to be a degree of ‘impairment’ for action to be taken. Read South Africa’s former Finance Minister and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni passed away on Saturday, 11 October 2024. Although he will best be remembered for his fiscal discipline and political integrity (and his atrocious kitchen antics), he will also be remembered as a long-time proponent of cannabis legalization. Read The deadly opioid fentanyl is now firmly part of the South African ‘drug conveyer belt’. This is the warning from the head of the Hawks who expects substance abuse levels to increase. This comes at a time when two major Gauteng private rehab centres have closed doors because of Government 'funding challenges', leaving hundreds of patients stranded. Read Hemporium has struggled against the odds to establish itself as the leading hemp retail chain in the country. The Cape-based company recently opened its flagship store in the Cape Town’s Hemp Hotel, offering the largest range of hemp products in Africa. Marketing Manager Shale Tinkler (pictured above) spoke to Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber about the trials and tribulations of pioneering hemp retail and what advice he has for entrepreneurs looking to enter this sector. Read New Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen says “implementing the Cannabis Master Plan is a critical priority” but it is “being hindered by the lack of legislative alignment which needs urgent attention”. He says the Agriculture Dept is bears overall responsibility for the Plan, the DTIC will “oversee” it, Read There has been a huge upsurge of Section 21 medical cannabis patients in the last year, with SAHPRA expressing concern that many ‘dispensaries’ offering this service are actually just a front for ‘recreational’ sales. Just what is the current legal landscape in terms of medical cannabis in South Africa? Bassani Medical Cannabis CEO Mike Stringer lays down the line. Read In the last year there has been an explosion of private cannabis shops, clubs and dispensaries across South Africa’s metros. Most of the so-called “grey zone” consumer-orientated cannabis outlets are actually very much ‘black’, and against the law. Even though police appear to be turning a blind eye to this thriving ‘wild west’ sector, stakeholders have called for legal clarity on how commercial cannabis will be regulated. Read Afriplex, a subsidiary of the investment group, Impilovest, has invested R150 million in upgrading its scientific technology capacity in the past four years and has entered a completely new space in the cannabis industry. It has invested in highly-specialized equipment that uses cannabinoids as building blocks to create new compounds and processes. These have nothing to do with traditional cannabis applications but have a wide range of industrial and other uses. Read Industrial cannabis (hemp) is where all Government’s energy is going and this is clearly where the most entrepreneurial opportunities lie. Control over non-medical cannabis is being handed over to the Agriculture Department and the plant will soon be dropped from the Drugs Act. This changes in the regulatory framework are slowly coming into place. Read A recent Cheeba Africa webinar on 'Hemp as Food', revealed the huge potential for industrial cannabis to be used as a healthy foodstuff. Although hemp is ideal for boosting young brains, the stigma surrounding cannabis is blocking health authorities from allowing hemp-based food products to be used in school feeding schemes. Read On 19 November 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein will finally hear the case of The Haze Club (THC). This is almost two years after a Western Cape reserved judgement on the matter which has implications for the legal status of South Africa’s scores of private cannabis clubs Read KwaZulu Natal is at the forefront of provincial cannabis reform and says it will support hemp farmers with permit applications, provision of seeds and will endeavour to find markets for their crops. Read The Medicines Act has been amended, allowing control over non-medical cannabis to be passed on to the Agriculture Department. This means that future decisions, such as acceptable THC levels for various cannabis products, will ultimately be decided on by Agriculture, and not by the Health Department. Read Government’s cannabis strategy has been lopsided to date with too much focus on cultivation and not enough attention on pairing farmers with markets. This is the view of legal expert Shaad Vayej who says he’s concerned about the lack of processing capacity for this year’s industrial cannabis (hemp) season. He says until offtake agreements are put in place for the 1 100 farmers with hemp permits, they faced an alarming build-up of biomass with no market. Read A suspected cannabis dealer was shot dead near Umhlali north of Durban after an exchange of fire with police. Seven bags of cannabis were recovered from his vehicle after the shootout on the N2. Two alleged accomplices are on the run. Read A Mpumulanga Judge has set aside a cannabis conviction based on a section of the Drugs Act that was declared unconstitutional 30 years ago!. He also wants the Chief Magistrate “to help identify areas in need of training and refresher courses” regarding cannabis law. Read Police raided a property near Port Alfred last week, seizing what they estimate as R30 million worth of cannabis and related products. Five people were arrested, three of whom were foreign nationals, in further evidence that international crime syndicates are infiltrating the local drug market. Read The Gordon School of Business Science and Cheeba Africa’s Cannabis academy have teamed up to offer entrepreneurs and professionals a ‘business mastery’ course in cannabis that spans the plant’s value chain. Read The Haze Club (THC) director Neil Liddel has been the fall-guy for the Private Cannabis Club (PCC) market since his arrest in 2021 for ‘dealing in cannabis’. Last year a Western Cape magistrate found him guilty under the Drugs Act, and the case was taken on appeal. However, the new Cannabis Act may have a bearing on the case and Liddel's legal team is in discussion with the state to explore the prospects of a settlement. Read The South African legal sector has significant experience in dealing with cannabis legislation and is well-positioned to benefit from the regulatory reform that is taking place in the rest of the continent. Read Three months after the President signed off on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act it is yet to be enacted into law. One of the delays is understood to be the Justice Minister’s awaited clarification on regulations, such as how many plants you may grow at home. Until such time as the Cannabis Act is signed off (again) by the President, the Drugs Act remains in force. Read Private sector cannabis stakeholders are in disarray with no umbrella body representing their interests as government drives reform forward. With the Presidency announcing that consultations will begin soon on how to commercialize cannabis, non-government stakeholders should urgently get their act together to collectively lobby for market-friendly policies. Read The Department of Agriculture has committed to funding the Agriculture Research Council with R146 million for cannabis research. This emerged from a Cabinet briefing on progress on the National Cannabis Master Plan in which it was agreed that stakeholder consultation would begin soon on a policy to commercialise cannabis. Read South Africa’s Cabinet has been briefed on the Cannabis Master Plan and the new Government of National Unity has committed itself to developing the industry. The Presidency says its taking steps to enact the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act and that Trade and Industry will “soon commence consultations on the Cannabis Commercialisation Policy.” Read