The Department of  Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has told the Cannabis Master Plan’s Steering Committee (Steerco) that it’s priority is amend existing laws to allow for the commercial trade in cannabis.

It also wants to fast-track the inclusion of legacy growers into a mainstream cannabis economy, provide funding for permit holders and ‘enforce action against illegal imports’.

This emerged from Steerco’s virtual meeting on 25 April 2025, chaired by the DTIC’s Claudy Steyn, in which it was officially announced that the Department would be the new lead department overseeing the cannabis and hemp sectors.

The meeting was attended by high level government functionaries such as SAHPRA’s Dr Boitumelo Semetse,  representatives from Agriculture, Heath, and Small Business Development. The Justice Department sent its apologies but did not attend.

There were also delegates from business, community organizations and labour. At the meeting the Department of Health representative Malose Matlale officially apologized for the disruption caused by the now-rescinded cannabis in foodstuff ban and promised there would be stakeholder engagement going forward before any new regulations were drafted,

Although no minutes of the meeting have been released, nor has there been any press statement from the DTIC on these developments, Cannabiz Africa understands from sources at the meeting that among the pressing issues on the agenda were:

• Finalizing the regulations for the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act and the removal of cannabis from the Drug Trafficking Act;

• Addressing the ‘severe regulatory vacuum that is crippling growth’;

• The need to overcome the fragmentation between government departments;

• Overcoming poor stakeholder communication

Other points to come out of the meeting were:

• The Agriculture Department confirmed it was raising the THC limit in hemp to two percent and said it would report on available hemp trials as soon as it had ministerial permission;

• The Health Department requested the scientific justification for the increase in THC percentage limits be shared with the public;

• SAHPRA confirmed it was working with the DTIC to align regulatory reforms.

During the meeting a presentation was made by the recently formed South African Cannabis and Hemp Industrial Development Association (SACHIDA) represented by Tebogo Tlhopane.  Tlhopane supported criticism of the committee by Business Unity South Africa representative Ayanda M Bam, for not keeping minutes of previous meetings.  Both warned that the current regulatory vacuum was undermining sector confidence.

SACHIDA’s presentation highlighted the plight of legacy farmers and raised specific concerns relating to the Department of Health, particularly around the ill-dated cannabis and foostuff ban – for which, as mentioned above, the Department apoligized.

The DTIC says it will set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) steering committee, the Project Management Unt and provincial committees to get the Cannabis Master Plan off the ground again.

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