Cannabis licencing, which has been on people’s lips of late, is giving the minister of health, Nkaku Kabi’s, sleepless nights as many licence holders have not renewed their licenses or even started operating on the ground.
Kabi says the ministry, which is responsible for giving licenses, has awarded 144 licenses after the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) gave them permission to offer 200 licenses.
“Out of those 144 licenses less than 8 licence holders are on the ground operating while the rest cannot even renew their licenses,” he said.
According to Kabi, for one to get a license they need to pay a licence fee of M540 000 and they have to renew the licence for M370 000 yearly; there are people who have not renewed their licences ever since they got them.
“We have realised that there are also people who do not physically come to the office to apply for licences but send other people who charge a certain fee for applying on their behalf. We have decided to stop that, every person should apply in person because we have licenses which we have been keeping for six months and their owners have not come forward to collect them.
