Just before the weekend, the department said it was aiming to ‘unlock economic opportunities and job creation’. It hopes to achieve this through the cultivation and processing of cannabis and help at an industrial level in Gauteng.
There are a few specific areas that are being considered, these include:
- Funding and capitalisation mechanism of cannabis and hemp cultivation, processing and distribution;
- Aggregation schemes for both cultivation and processing;
- Exchange, aggregation and trading platforms for domestic and export markets – this includes certification and quality assurance partnership proposals and;
- Cannabis driven carbon reduction and bioremediation program.
*Bioremediation uses microorganisms, plants or microbial/plant enzymes to detoxify contaminants in the soil and other environments.
Government offers to lease state-owned land for the project
The Gauteng government has offered to lease state-owned land as well as tenancy in special economic zones in order to continue with the project. It has also suggested partnerships with other Government departments and collaborative funding. This suggestion is in hopes of growing the cannabis industry in South Africa.
Premier David Makhura also announced plans to set up the country’s first cannabis hub. He made the announcement at his state of the province address in February this year. The plans form part of a R45 billion smart city development at Vaal River.
The premier explained that the primary focus will be on growing cannabis for medical use. He added that it would not be sold recreationally.
“All the four municipalities in the district have collectively made land available for this Special Economic Zone development. Notwithstanding some delays in the finalisation of the master plan, we are firmly on track to kickstart the revitalisation of the Sedibeng economy this year,”
Premier David Makhura