Senior government officials’ attempts to explain the cannabis foodstuff ban and calm stakeholder nerves backfired spectacularly this week raising more questions than answers about the motive for the ban.

Developments this week have also laid bare the utter dysfunctionality between the Ministries of Health, Trade Industry and Competition and the Presidency - and the woeful ignorance and incompetence of officials in the departments allegedly driving cannabis reform.

It has now emerged that when President Ramaphosa delivered his SONA on 6 February 2025 in Cape Town, he was not aware that his Health Minister had already signed off on the cannabis foodstuff ban.

Although the controversial ban was gazetted on 7 March 2025, Dr Aaron Mostoaledi authorized it on 16 January 2025.  Sources close to Operation Vulundlela in the Presidency confirmed that no official notification was received about the Health Minister’s intentions prior to SONA and said most of his colleagues became aware of the ban only after it was announced.  

The official privately acknowledged that the ban was a major setback for the President who said in last month’s SONA that South Africa wanted to 'become a leader in the commercialization of cannabis and hemp'.

The ban has already had a devastating effect on the fledgling cannabis industry, with DA health spokesperson Michéle Clark saying that “Motsoaledi’s ‘ill-considered’ move threatened over 1,400 licensed businesses and 400 small, medium and micro enterprises.”

She told Business Day that the DA was concerned by the process that led to the ban, as the Health Minister had bypassed public consultation.

“Instead of imposing restrictions, the government should support the hemp industry, which has the potential to boost jobs, improve public health and drive sustainable economic development,” she said.

Business Day also quoted GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron as saying the Health Minister was “smoking his socks”.

“It borders on lunacy for the president to trumpet the future of an industry (hemp), only for one of his ministers to ban its products, which have been sold in mainstream stores for years,” he said in a statement.

Herron urged the president to overturn Motsoaledi’s ban and speed up work on the Cannabis Master Plan to ensure the sector was appropriately regulated.

“The lack of a policy framework to organise and regulate SA’s cannabis industry since the Constitutional Court decriminalised its use, but not its sale, seven years ago is placing the future of the burgeoning industry and up to a million people’s livelihoods at risk,” he said

“Users of edible cannabis products have the right to know that what they consume is safe, which requires regulations, not a ban,” he said.

The DTIC was also caught off guard by the ban. During the seven weeks between the executive decision and the public announcement, the Health Ministry failed to inform or consult the DTIC of its intentions, despite the fact that it is a key member on the Inter-Ministerial Committee dealing with cannabis that is chaired by DTIC Minister Parks Tau.

The proposed ban was also not put to the Cannabis Master Plan’s steering committee, Steerco, which is probably academic, as Steerco has not had an official meeting this year and appears beset with internal squabbles.

Minister Mostoaledi chose not to appear on the Cheeba Africa webinar What the Hemp 2.0?  on 18 March 2025 to explain the rationale behind the ban despite a prior commitment to do so.

Instead he sent senior health officials to represent him, The DoH’s Food control head Penny Campbell’s shocked the 900 or so industry stakeholders participating in the webinar with her assertion that the nutritional value of locally developed hemp varietals had not been proven.

DoH Deputy Director General Dr Anban Pillay tried to reassure stakeholders that the Minister had heard the concerns raised and that these would be addressed, but shed no light on the reasons for the ban.

The DTIC offered little cheer, revealing that the Cannabis Master Plan is effectively back at Square One.  DTIC representative on the Cheeba webinar, Thembelihle Ndukwana, said she looked forward to engaging with the private sector who would ‘soon’ be consulted on the department’s commercialization policy.

She hoped the ban would be temporary, but said nonetheless that all businesses should comply or face the implications of breaking the law.

The DTIC has halted all funding to businesses seeking to develop hemp-based food businesses, even though at least a dozen such companies have been incubated by the CSIR and the Department of Small Business.

Although there has still been no official comment on the ban from the DoH, the DTIC or the Presidency, Cannabiz Africa understands that a series of backroom meetings are underway as to how to salvage the situation.

Three different well-placed sources, say that the DTIC is looking to get an exemption from the ban for  hemp-based products, while a regulatory framework is hammered out.

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