CAPE TOWN – The Cannabis Development Council of South Africa (CDCSA) said on Tuesday that it had set up branches in all provinces to ensure all who traded in cannbis paid their taxes and also paid a tax called the IKS tax which will be used to develop indigenous communities.
The CDCSA welcomed the Constitutional Court’s ruling regarding the private cultivation and use of cannabis saying: “We the CDCSA hereby accept the ruling by the judiciary. We salute our Justice System.”
Founder and visionary of House of Hemp, Dr Thandeka Kunene, said South Africa deserved to benefit from tax to be drawn from cannabis trade in a simillar way to Sin tax and VAT. “In Colorado the US made R80 billion first year. We deserve that.
“Let the government of South Africa work with indigenous communities to set up cannabis supply value chain to supply to our own needs and export high quality cannabis to the world market. We want to see millionnaire Rastas, millionnaire Sangomas and millionnaire Pondo Farmers in our lifetime.”
Meanwhile the IFP said it noted the unanimous ConCourt judgement.
Medical Innovation Bill
In 2014 the IFP introduced the Medical Innovation Bill which in 2017 opened the doors for South Africans to apply to SAHPRA for licence to grow, cultivate and manufacture cannabis for medicinal purposes.
The party has since 2014 been at the forefront of calls to commercialise hemp in South Africa.
“It is our hope that the unanimous judgement handed down today by the full bench of the ConCourt will also see the fast-tracking of legislation for the commercialisation of Hemp in our country which will boost the economy and create jobs,” it said.
The Department of Trade and Industry said in parliament that it was studying Cannabis use which was welcomed by the IFP. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, commitment to study benefits of the commercialisation of hemp farming in the country.
Minister Rob Davies in a response to a parliamentary question by MP Narend Singh on the matter said: “The outcomes of this study will determine a way forward in terms of industrialising this sector in South Africa.”
“In respect of today’s landmark judgment, we call upon all adult South Africans to act responsibly in terms of their private cannabis use,” said Singh in a statement.