The Battle for Bophelo is officially over. On 16 November 2022, Nasdaq-listed Akanda announced that it was no longer going to contest the irregular liquidation of its 100% subsididiary, Bophelo Biosciences and Wellness, one of the last executive actions of its former chairperson Louise Mojela shortly before she was fired on 23 June 2022. It would allow the liquidation to go ahead and become a creditor for funds invested in the Lesotho cultivation facility and not try and recover the actual equity.

And when the tears fall, it will be in Lesotho. 

Bophelo, founded by Mojela, had grand aspirations to being the biggest cannabis facility in the world, and it looked that way when Mojela, who founded Bophela, flipped the company up into Canadian multinational Halo Collective in 2018.  Mojela became chairperson of Halo. Halo then decided that the North American market was where the growth lay and unbundled its European assets into a new entity, Akanda, who’s principle assets were Bophelo in Lesotho and Medcann in the UK.

Akanda listed on Nasdaq in March 2022, raised, which it said would be primarily invested in Lesotho.

Akanda is about to hit the big-time in Europe having secured one of the most significant medical cannabis tenders in Germany. Once upon a time it was to source most of its cannabis from Lesotho but now it’s switched emphasis to its newly acquired Sintra state of the art cultivation facility in Portugal, which CEO Tej Virk says has more than enough capacity to supply Europe's medicinal cannabis needs. Already it has fulfilled an order of a ton of high THC flower for the German medical market.

Lesotho's new political leadership is acutely aware of the fact that there are few economic drivers for this landlocked  country other than cannabis. It is unfortunate, in Cannabiz Africa's view, that Majola's ego, has tarnished Lesotho's reputation as a reliable cannabis investment destination. 

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