Welcome to the ‘Grey Zone’

South African cannabis is in uncharted legal territory: The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act has been signed into law but it is not yet in force. It will be implemented in stages, one of which will be when cannabis is removed from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act. The Presidency has signalled it intends developing an over-arching cannabis law regulating the commercial trade in cannabis and related products.

Until such time as such changes are gazetted, the law itself is a ‘grey zone’, riddled by this central contradiction: Government wants to legalize cannabis in order to fight rural poverty and create jobs, yet at the same time it is persecuting the very people it claims to be trying to save by arresting and prosecuting them.

Witness the recent action by the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD), who, on a tip-off,  bragged about their biggest dagga bust yet.

The Citizen reported on 30 August 2024  that two men were arrested recently, when the Tshwane Metro Police Department, acting on a tip-off, stopped a ‘diesel’ truck and found compressed cannabis with a claimed street value of R1,5. The haul was allegedly en-route to Johannesburg from rural growers in the Eastern Cape.

TMPD’s ‘Strong Message’ to Cannabis Growers

Commissioner Yolanda Faro said the TMPD wanted to send a “strong message out to people transporting drugs and selling drugs… the TMPD will zoom in on anybody transporting and selling drugs.”

“We take this very seriously and we want to continue with these types of operations,” she said, appealing to the public to share any information that can help fight crime. “They can report it to us anonymously,” she said.

The Ugly Side of Prohibition

Fields of Green for All (FGFA) founder Myrtle Clark told The Citizen that because the bust was so big authorities would have a hard time getting a conviction because there were no amounts in law that would justify the charge.

“This is the ugly face of prohibition. Pot shops continue to open up every day on every second street corner, operating with any number of dodgy licences,” she said.

“Here at Fields of Green for All we have enough experience to know that the large amount of dagga came from a rural area where the farmers are just trying to put food on the table,” she said.

“These are only cases we hear about at Fields of Green for All. We are certain there are many more, they’ve happened everywhere from the Western Cape, Klerksdorp, North West, Johannesburg and the most recent bust in Pretoria.”

“Yes, we have come a long way since the days of 1 000 busts a day – but we are not free until we are all free,” she said.

Police ‘Win’ Equals Real Loss for the Farmer

In the same report, cannabis activist Walter Pretoria aka Aaptwak, said the bust might be a big win for the police, but a big loss for the rural farmer.

“The cannabis confiscated comes from rural farmers and is most likely someone’s bread and butter for the month.

“It doesn’t matter where it came from, the farmer who grew that cannabis took a big knock and those along the supply chain,” he said.

Pretorius said it was sad because it was money and hard work down the drain.

“Many people don’t think it’s a craft growing dagga, but it (is) not as easy as it seems, it takes a lot of money and hard work.”

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