Rastas protest for legislation

Gallery Update

GEORGE NEWS - The Rastafarians want the legislation around cannabis implemented and resolved, and they want it done peacefully.

For this reason, a big group of Rastafarians from across George gathered at the Conville Police Station early on Human Rights Day, Tuesday 21 March, to take part in a cannabis decriminalisation protest.

They feel that since the Constitutional Court declared certain sections of the Drugs and Medicines Act unconstitutional in 2018, and some progress has been made in the drafting of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, it is still taking too long to for actual legislation to be passed since the ruling.

"In the meantime we get arrested for possession of our own personal cannabis and put into jail, just to be released again the next morning. Why do we have to spend time in the cells next to real hard-core prisoners when we have done nothing wrong? When the courts release us anyway?" said grassroots activist Ras Hein Scheepers.

"Look, I understand there are limitations and you shouldn't be caught with, like 100kg of cannabis, but not having proper legislation basically leaves it to the discretion of the police on what action they will take against us. What they do to us depends on their mood and what kind of person they are.

"The George Rastas are peaceful. We don't tik or sell hard drugs. We want just as much to fight the criminal element as the police and the rest of the community," he said.

Simon Volunteer Nyoke

The group marched down Nelson Mandela Boulevard, through the CBD to the George Police Station where memorandums were handed to the police and the National Prosecuting Authority.

The same memorandum, drawn up by the Rastafari Nation Council (RNC), was given to parliament on 1 March during the Adwa Day march in Cape Town to request an audience with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The memorandum addresses issues such as the sacramental rights of the Rastafari churches and identifying of sacramental spaces, an indigenous knowledge system (IKS) to give indigenous communities the right to share in economical, commercial, and legal cannabis industries, and damages to be repaired that the effect of the transatlantic slave trade had on Africa and her people globally.

PHOTO GALLERY: Rastafarians hold peaceful protest

In the memorandum the RNC states that through its representatives, they will follow up with the president's office in order to facilitate the long overdue audience with him.

Goodwill Hlengisa