Black Farmers' Association to march to SAHPRA over alleged cannabis licence exclusion

The Black Farmers’ Association of South Africa (BFASA) says it will on Thursday march to the offices of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) over the exclusion of black people from being granted medicinal cannabis licences.

BFASA claims that SAHPRA’s management, under instruction from Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, has been granting licences to affluent white people and foreign-owned companies without considering indigenous people including traditional healers, rural agriculture and Rastafarians.

Cannabis could be a potential economic driver:

BFASA president Dr Lennox Mtshagi says they are being discriminated against.

“We are going to protest outside SAHPRA until our call is heard by the minister because the minister is also implicated by SAHPRA. He is the one that is instructing [SAHPRA] to give licences to white people not to black people. So we’ve got that on record. We want the minister to come and answer today [on Thursday],” explains Mtshagi.

Full interview with Dr Lennox Mtshagi:

Meanwhile, in a statement, SAHPRA has refuted claims made by BFASA.