Cannabis: Black farmers to ‘shut down’ regulator

The Black Farmers’ Association of South Africa claim they are excluded from opportunities in cannabis cultivation
Food for Mzansi (South Africa)
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Black Farmers' Association of South Africa (BFASA) have threatened to shut down the regulatory authority for allegedly excluding them from opportunities in the rapidly growing cannabis industry. BFASA says it has written to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) amid concerns that the cannabis industry is not being steered in a sustainable nor inclusive manner. "SAPHRA has maliciously and deliberately blocked every aspect of the cannabis and hemp industry. Job creation. Investment from keen investors. Untold agricultural, industrial, recreational, and traditional healing methods are thwarted selfishly," Dr Lennox Xolile Mtshagi, BFASA’s national president, wrote in his letter to SAHPRA. "SAHPRA has handed the cannabis industry to 'white monopoly colonialists'."