{"id":871879,"date":"2026-08-25T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871879"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:34:56","slug":"south-africa-has-missed-the-r30-billion-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/871879\/south-africa-has-missed-the-r30-billion-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa has missed the R30 billion bus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s lofty dreams of cultivating a R30 billion cannabis industry are sitting idle as the global mood on the commodity takes a downturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Agribiz Chief Economist, Wandile Sihlobo, who admitted that South Africa as a whole has been slow to move forward with its cannabis and hemp plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crawling policy reform and a lack of legislative and legal clarity mean the country may have missed the bus\u2014at least for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A few years ago, this was a hot issue. Now, globally, the mood is somewhat downbeat on cannabis,” Sihlobo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, he believes that South Africa should maintain its focus and keep pursuing the market, as “there are cycles in these things”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cannabis Masterplan, endorsed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ministers, has been waiting in the wings since the Constitutional Court made the private use of cannabis legal in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been touted as an industry creator that could pump R30 billion in value into the South African economy, creating thousands of jobs in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Sihlobo noted that South Africa still has a long way to go to make a productive cannabis industry a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From legislation to regulation to law enforcement, there are many areas of overlap that need to work in tandem across government to make the industry work\u2014and little has been done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the legislative side, the country has established paths and permits for cultivators, particularly in the medical field, and has decriminalised the private use of cannabis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the laws remain unclear in many respects, and obtaining permits is costly and prohibitive. Much more work still needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill into law in May 2024, decriminalising private cannabis use, the law is not yet in effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The laws allow for the cultivation of a specified quantity of cannabis plants, possession of a prescribed amount of cannabis and the use of cannabis for private individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they are still waiting for an appropriate regulatory framework in which to operate. Regulations were promised at the end of March 2026, yet none came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the saving grace for South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Economist, Wandile Sihlobo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the production and retail side, things are even less clear, which has led to a massive grey area in which stalls and shops operate, selling products that contain cannabis, to be used by private individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompted the Health Department to ban foodstuffs containing cannabis in 2025, which it was quickly forced to withdraw after it impacted over 1,800 legitimate businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ban applied to the import, manufacture, and sale of any foods containing cannabis and cannabis products, including Sativa, Indica, Ruderalis, hemp seed oil, or powder derivatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it did not distinguish between hemp and cannabis, unilaterally criminalising previously lawful foodstuffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many entrepreneurs are left in a grey area, as there is no clear legal framework to guide cultivation, trade, or taxation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These issues show the complexity, but also the half-hearted approach to getting the industry going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sihlobo, he is in support of exploring the cannabis industry, but the hazy legal issues need to be cleared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the industry also shouldn’t be treated as if it’s a major game changer for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is still room for advancing the cannabis and hemp industries in South Africa. But we can\u2019t position these as major game-changers in our agricultural sector\u2019s growth trajectory,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are mainly an addition, like other commodities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sihlobo said the government needs to move and ease the environment for the commercial production of the plant, but should stop propping it up as a key announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The announcements often seek to position the plant as if it will solve all our problems, but that is not the case,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When we finally progress with cannabis and hemp research, regulations and a clear policy framework, the plant could create opportunities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Life won\u2019t change drastically…but it will add some value,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s lofty dreams of cultivating a R30 billion cannabis industry are sitting idle as the global mood on the commodity takes a downturn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":871881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2092167860353151473","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2186065168880549","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18132280999725850","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9834,21374],"class_list":["post-871879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-cannabis","tag-wandile-sihlobo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871897,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871879\/revisions\/871897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}