Black farmers want fair cannabis deal

Members of the Black Farmers Association of SA (BFASA) returned to the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) office yesterday, only to have their hopes go up in smoke when its CEO did not come to receive their memorandum demanding the regulator open up fair trade of cannabis.

BFASA president Dr Lennox Xolile Mtshagi said Sahpra was not operating properly because of corruption and demanded the Sahpra top structure be dismantled.

He said those who started first with cannabis and were still doing it should be prioritised.

“During the apartheid era, traditional healers were the ones oppressed the most because of cannabis. Now that it is legal, the professor is giving it to her friends,” Mtshagi said.

BFASA accused Sahpra of backtracking from their promise to issue them with licences to cultivate cannabis.

“Sahpra has denied us access to the cannabis economy for too long while making it easy for foreigners and
white people to make money from our traditional herb,” he said.

Political analyst Ongama Mtimka said the informal sector has got centuries of experience growing and distributing
cannabis.

“It’s important that as processes to formalise cannabis starts, there is significant sensitivity placed on the fact that it’s not a virgin industry,” he said.

Mtimka said part of Sahpra’s mechanisms reflected an epistemic arrogance by those who controlled the processes.

“[This] resulted in a community that has practiced activities, medical or agricultural, marginalised when formalisation processes are underway.”