Home Minister of dagga: Is Tito Mboweni’s weed patch actually legal?

Minister of dagga: Is Tito Mboweni’s weed patch actually legal?

The ANC’s rogue Cabinet member was causing chaos on his Twitter page once more on Sunday night. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni shared several photos of weed plants growing on his private farm, challenging police to “arrest him” for growing dagga.

It has been close to 18 months since the Constitutional Court of South Africa partially legalised dagga. In its infinite wisdom, the institution gave the ANC two years to finalise and publish laws which control the personal usage of cannabis. With almost three-quarters of that deadline now passed, the public are still none the wiser about how much weed is legal to possess, and what the punishments are for going overboard.

No, Tito Mboweni can’t be arrested for dagga possession

The judgement from September 2018 reveals that individual police officers are the ones who must decide “how much is too much”. The grey areas are still persistent, as the government have done very little to lay down firm ground rules. Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo previously said:

“If a police officer finds a person in possession of cannabis and he or she thinks it is not for personal consumption, he or she will ask the person such questions as may be necessary to satisfy himself or herself whether the cannabis he or she is in possession of is for personal consumption.”

“If, having heard what the person has to say, the police officer thinks that the explanation is not satisfactory, he or she may arrest the person. Ultimately, it will be the court that will decide whether the person possessed the cannabis for personal consumption.”

Raymond Zondo

However, Tito Mboweni is probably on the right side of the ambiguous laws:

  • If it’s being used, it is clearly for personal use. Selling cannabis is technically illegal, and our minister isn’t “dealing”.
  • This doesn’t look like a criminal amount of dagga. A few plants in the back yard can’t be classed as a weed farm.
  • The law states that South Africans are allowed to grow, cultivate and use weed “on their own property”. It looks like Tito Mboweni is in the clear, and despite his challenge to SAPS, he can’t be arrested.

How much weed are you allowed to have in South Africa

Furthermore, according to the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992, anything under 115 grams can be successfully argued as being possessed for personal use. So as long as Tito isn’t stuffing his pockets and bringing a hefty amount with him to Parliament, then he is not breaking the law.

Mboweni dropped a very clear hint that there would be, finally, some progress on the weed laws this year. With SONA set to take place in 10 days – and the dreaded budget for 2020 also being revealed this month – it seems like the minister wants to tap into a market that could generate more money in tax:



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