DAGGA: WHY WE MUST FOLLOW LESOTHO’S LEAD

It has become apparent that some compatriots still do not enjoy the liberation dividend brought about by the end of colonial rule in Africa in general and, in particular, the Kingdom of Eswatini, because while they may be free physically they nonetheless remain mental and intellectual slaves of colonialism.

As I see it, it would not be a bad idea to ship these compatriots to an uninhabited faraway planet because they are the nemesis of economic development for a better life for all. Given the fact that liberation came almost 50 years ago to this country, it is astounding that some people are still prisoners of the inglorious past, unable to disentangle themselves, at least mentally and intellectually, from the shackles of colonialism in order to think uninhibited. This grim reality has manifested itself on the ongoing pseudo discourse on the subject matter of dagga or marijuana or hemp or cannabis – at this point it is irrelevant whatever you choose to call it. Perhaps owing to a combination of mental and intellectual deficiencies, not to forget procrastination and poor leadership, the kingdom has in recent memory missed out on a lot of developmental initiatives that should have spurred economic growth. One such example is the Maputo Corridor that was an initiative between this country, South Africa and Mozambique.

While our leaders and policy makers were still procrastinating over the project the two neighbouring countries decided to cut this country out of the deal and pursued the much expensive Komartipoort route for the project instead of the shorter and much cost effective Oshoek-Lomahasha route. The one major benefit that could have accrued for the kingdom from the Maputo Corridor was that the costs of constructing the Oshoek to Lomahasha Highway would have been shared between the three countries. The fresh discourse over whether or not to legalise the herb has been rekindled by the outcome of investigations on the matter by a select committee of the House of Assembly led by Hhukwini Member of Parliament Saladin Magagula. I should hasten to say I was horrified when MP Magagula withdrew his committee’s report before it could be tabled, thinking that the business of the Legislature had once again been influenced by shadowy external forces. But I was reassured when it was later explained, albeit incoherently, that the withdrawal was temporary to allow a few bolts and nuts to be tightened.

The discourse, or its quality, that has since ensured has put into sharp focus why the kingdom‘s progress is nowhere near correlating to its potential and the accompanying investment that has been injected since. Causal to this state of affairs is a pronounced dearth of thought leaders within our sphere, a challenge that has been magnified manifold by the level of arguments in the ongoing debate over the status of the herb. As it were some of the individuals who influence public policy who have ventilated themselves on the subject matter suffer intellectual kwashiorkor that is probably owed to their continued mental enslavement by the legacy of colonialism. The net effect of this apparent deficiency is that those in the forefront, whose opinions matter, are relics of the past who should have long been consigned to the national archives but are being allowed to roam freely. The reason for this is they are not adaptable to new concepts and innovations because they were mentally captured by the former colonial masters and to date have manifestly failed to liberate themselves from this mental and intellectual prison.

Hence they have refused and failed to interrogate the motivations of their colonial masters in enacting certain pieces of legislation in general and, specifically, criminalising the herb. Yes, a good number of colonial laws, a majority of which were oppressive by design, were primarily motivated by the desire to put the natives in their place. I have no appetite to rerun the pros and cons of legalising and/or decriminalising the herb as this has been previously dealt with in this column and other fora. But what is important is that those naysayers were also given an opportunity to make their representations to the parliamentary select committee. And if and when weighed against the greater good to the economic trajectory of the kingdom they were nullified in favour of legalising the herb then it should be the voice of the majority that prevails. After all ill-conceived academic positions on the matter fly in the face of reason because if they were to be taken seriously, no drug should be used as a panacea to disease ostensibly because just about every other drug has devastating side effects in the long run.

We also have not heard the naysayers’ voices calling for the criminalisation of substances such as alcohol and cigarettes for their well-documented negative impacts on society. Could it be this is because they were legalised and licensed by the former colonial masters who could do no wrong in the eyes of those opposed to the herb and its multiple benefits, which by far outweigh its negatives? These minority voices would like us to believe that the many countries were all wrong in legalising the herb. And not very far from these shores Lesotho, probably much endowed with thought leaders than life’s perennial skeptics, has taken a giant leap of faith by legalising the farming and production of the herb for industrial, cosmetics and medicinal consumption. That is the route the Kingdom of Eswatini must take as of yesterday.

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