STANCE ON CANNABIS WELCOME BUT …

It may well be that government’s full cycle turnabout on its position on the decriminalisation of cannabis – I am deliberately circumspect not to use the term legalisation – should be applauded as a glass that is half full other than be condemned as a glass that is half empty because this half measure has come rather too late for the Kingdom of Eswatini to claim a competitive strategic position.  

Of course government’s new posture signals a radical departure from the former government under the then Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini that had firmly and unequivocally shut the door on the matter of decriminalising the herb for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes or any other purpose for that matter. Yet in my scheme of things, government’s stuttering progression towards doing the right thing that ought to have been accomplished years before remains a half empty glass.      
As I see it, one of the many failings of this country in almost all its 50 years of independence has to do with the absence of a pluralistic body politic that could have created an enabling climate and environment for the contestation of political power, which would have been a catalyst in spurring development on all fronts. That this country has no recognisable thought leaders has nothing to do with the intellectual DNA of emaSwati but everything to do with an oppressive political system that has deliberately not harnessed the individual and collective intellect of emaSwati for the greater good of the country and the nation.

Instead of unleashing the individual and collective intellect of emaSwati for the benefit of the nation and the country, the minority in leadership sought to suppress intellectual growth and cultivation of thought leadership by initially appropriating to themselves the right to think and speak for the people in perpetuity. To this day and age, emaSwati cannot freely engage in rigorous debate and dissent without being labeled as disloyal or unpatriotic. Consequently, where we ought to have thought leaders we have grovellers and bootlickers since emaSwati have been conditioned to fear their leaders and are not worth our respect. It is on that backdrop that while welcoming government’s new posture on cannabis, the downside is that it seems to lack urgency. This shortcoming may in fact be a manifestation of the mindset that has been conditioned by the oppressive political climate.

A cursory glance at the proposed regulatory framework is quite revealing in that respect. The mindsets of the authors of that licencing framework were firmly in the centre of and constrained by the syndrome of thinking inside the box. For one, the framework is quite restrictive on many fronts. In fact, the tone is to scare ordinary folk away while attracting the big firms and industries. If the proposed regulatory framework were to be applied as is this would mean the exclusion of the large body of emaSwati from this economic activity in the same manner that the sugar industry initially excluded the people and only good enough as a labour reserve. Yes, it seems the cake is specifically prepared for and served to the haves who are already controlling the economy while the people have to scavenge for crumbs and once again serve as a labour reserve.

That is essentially the net effect of the million Emalangeni licence fee proposed in the draft licencing framework. Such thoughts of excluding emaSwati from the economic mainstream coming as they do in the 21st century are heinous to say the least. 
Furthermore, the licencing framework should separate farming or cultivation and manufacturing and processing of cannabis in the various industrial and pharmaceutical arenas, like the evolution of sugar cane farming that was originally monopolised by big industries owning the processing plants as well as cultivating their own sugar cane to the exclusion of private and independent small-holder farmers. Today the industry has been reconfigured to embrace private independent sugar cane suppliers to become an all-inclusive industry. The same should happen in the cannabis regime to avoid a monopoly by the industrials as well as to ensure the empowerment of emaSwati.

Hopefully the exercise of regulating farming and processing of cannabis should not be overly delayed by red tape as is usual with government processes. For this country to make any meaningful progress there is an urgent need for radical change of mindsets. This country can no longer afford the laid back approach to issues if it is to be competitive. The narrative of ‘there’s no hurry in Eswatini’ must be discarded as in yesterday otherwise this country will never achieve its full potential. And now that government has finally embraced the need to establish a cannabis industry, the question is why continue destroying confiscated dagga. Just last week, tons of the herb worth tens of thousands of Emalangeni were destroyed. Just like with everything derived from criminal activity or illegal that has been confiscated by the State, such dagga should be auctioned to those who can procure external buyers since we are still without pharmaceutical industries in this country. In turn this might require the issuing of provisional licences for this purpose. The clock is ticking!

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