Cannabiz Africa
Chair of the SA Cannabis Development Council, Ras Gareth Prince, says there is a new willingness on the part of the state to negotiate the issues raised in his urgent application to halt cannabis arrests and review some of the legislative aspects of cannabis reform.
He says discussions with state lawyers ahead of the last court date on 31 July 2026, convinced him that there was a genuine desire to resolve the situation and bring cannabis reform back on track.
“We are looking for a win-win situation for all of us” he told Cannabiz Africa this week. “Thew DTIC is keen to get this all mediated”.
He said his goal was to clear the way for all cannabis farmers to begin planting their crops from 1 October 2026 without fear of harassment from the police. He said that if agreement was not reached on this within the next month, the high court application would continue.
Ras Prince said the fact that the judge who ruled in The Haze Club (THC) matter was presiding over the application, also had a bearing. Judge Hayley Slingers oversaw the Haze Club bid to legalize private clubs in 2022, but made no definitive ruling on the legality of private clubs. Instead, an out-of-court settlement was reached with THC director Neil Liddel, in which charges were dropped but the confidentiality of the agreement meant that the anticipated clarity on the legal status of clubs never materialized.
The lack of a clear outcome to the THC case has created the legal ambiguity around private cannabis clubs and has resulted in widespread confusion in the market.
Prince says he wanted to avoid further ambiguity and was concerned that the judge would defer any decisions on the Cannabis Act back to the executive arm of government and that this would slow the process down further.
He said he hoped that the negotiations ahead would have the same desired outcome as the urgent application launched on 15 April 2026 calling for a halt to cannabis arrests and a review of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act.
Eight state departments have been cited as respondents in the application, which was bought by Prince, the Rastafari National Council and a group of small-scale farmers. Cannabiz Africa understands that there was a high-level meeting between SAPS, the DTIC and Justice department officials ahead of the 31 July 2026 scheduled appearance on the Cape Town High Court roll, and there was an agreement that mediation was the best route forward.
