Dagga used to be a dirty word. Lately it has become respectable as cannabis and, if President Cyril Ramaphosa gets his way, it could soon be as legitimate as growing mealies.
During his state of the nation address Ramaphosa held out the possibility of cannabis helping to create jobs and attracting investment. He even put a figure on it: 130,000 jobs. The National Cannabis Master Plan went further: R28bn for the fiscus.
The plan, raised in 2019, was drawn up by a committee ranging from government departments such as health, agriculture and justice, to the police, scientists and some universities. Its task was to bring underground agriculture into the mainstream. The potential is huge: the World Health Organisation says SA is the third-largest illegal cannabis producer in the world already, with about 2,500t grown each year.
Sibusiso Xaba, co-founder and CEO of the Africa Cannabis Advisory Group, says first the three spheres of the cannabis industry — medicinal cannabis, industrial cannabis (hemp) and its “adult use” must be liberalised. Following that, laws and regulations need to be amended so that capital for research and development can be raised, and consumers be protected.
He says a domestic industry needs to be developed with, for example, medicinal cannabis. “We’ve got hundreds, if not thousands, of potential medicinal cannabis patients in SA.”
Creating jobs and wealth is ‘not a foregone conclusion’
— Sibusiso Xaba
Xaba warns, however, that creating jobs and wealth is “not a foregone conclusion” and that in five years the country could look back on a failed project. “The devil is in the detail in this industry,” he says.
The decriminalisation of “the weed” began in 2018 when the Constitutional Court ruled that private cultivation should be legal for adults. Because sales are still illegal, it can’t be developed, distributed or enter the global market for THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis).
Nevertheless, the KwaZulu-Natal executive council has approved a cannabis committee to oversee the development of the industry in the province. According to premier Sihle Zikalala, it will make sure the industry adheres to regulations, seed supplies and research, and technology development.
Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber, says much of the potential employment will come from the processing rather than the production of cannabis and its products. That thinking is based on what is happening in Canada, the first G7 nation to fully legalise cannabis for medicinal, adult use and industrial purposes, where many jobs were created in a vibrant cannabis value chain rather than in primary production.
“As we try to develop the cannabis value chain, we should also [ask], ‘how in the process do we force the inclusion of medium and small-scale black farmers in that process?’ It can’t just be capital-heavy organisations who benefit, we have to ensure that those who have been growing cannabis for many years under the shadows of illegality are not suddenly pushed out,” Sihlobo says.
While policy and regulations are developing at a “snail’s pace”, Kwena Mokgohloa, of the Agricultural Research Council, who has been researching cannabis for 14 years and hemp for four years, says there are still many opportunities to be accessed. He says it’s possible to create even more than Ramaphosa’s 130,000 jobs, especially if hemp is reclassified as a crop, to be used in textiles, clothing, paper, bioplastics and building material.
“[The cannabis industry] is going to require low-skilled and high-skilled workers,” Mokgohloa says.
Cilo Cybin, the only company in SA with a licence to grow, process, and pack cannabis products, recently launched its first line of CBD products targeting the medicinal market. CBD, or cannabidiol, is the second-most prevalent active ingredient in cannabis.
Gabriel Theron, Cilo Cybin’s president and CEO, says the company partnered with the Vaal University of Technology to use a special nanotechnology in the production of its CBD range.
“It does give you the medicinal effect that you want. We split it into two product ranges. One is an oil that you can ingest and then there is also a vape range. The vape range is inhalable. If you have a panic attack, it helps you to immediately get over it,” he says.
With Cilo Cybin soon listing on the JSE and looking to become a market leader in SA, small players and laymen have been producing medicinal cannabis products for years. One producer, who asked to remain anonymous, says he started making CBD oil after he was diagnosed with skin cancer more than 10 years ago and has since has been making the oil for others. “I don’t advertise,” he says. “People have just been asking me for it, more and more.”
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