by Ben Horner
In 2018, a South African Constitutional Court case effectively decriminalized cannabis for private use and home cultivation. This has resulted in the South African legislature introducing a bill that seeks to create a regulatory framework to build a new cannabis industry, but it is not clear how the commercial industry will be allowed to proceed.
Critics include Umzimvubu Farmers Support Network (UFSN), which represents traditional farmers and cannabis-only growers in the Pondoland region who are concerned that they will be cut out of new cannabis industry. South African president Ramaphosa specifically mentioned the UFSN in a recent state of the union address in which he showed support for the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill. Ramaphosa expressed that the hemp and cannabis industry was a major priority for the country because it could create an estimated 130,000 new jobs.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) supports the legalization of cannabis for private, commercial, and medical use in South Africa. While COSATU said it broadly supports the objectives of the bill, it noted that more work still needs to be done on the bill, as it was “unrealistically bureaucratic and cumbersome” in some ways.
As of last June, Republic of South Africa Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Acquisitions LLC (RSAMMDA.LLC) has closed on the acquisition of Protext Mobility Inc., in a share exchange whereby 100% of capital stock in RSAMMDA.LLC will be exchanged for preferred stock in Protext. The deal was reportedly started around the same time as the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill. The merge unites retail locations with over a thousand hectares of hemp and cannabis cultivation facilities utilizing seed-to-sale tracking software and proprietary extraction technology.
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