Wednesday, March 28, 2007

South African government speech on hemp

[Dar es Salaam, Tanzania]
GOD bless South Africa. Now there's a country with leaders who are forward-thinking when it comes to legalizing industrial hemp. It's obvious that they see billions (in dollar$) of reasons to grow said plant. I urge you to take a peek at this amazing speech. Here's a teaser to whet your appetite:
Tonight, we are here to celebrate the first retail and marketing outlet to be established by Hooked on Hemp SA, a black owned small business which acts as convenors of the Human Resource Development programme in the National Hemp Initiative. Ultimately, it is hoped to roll House of Hemp out to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the three provinces where hemp grows the best in South Africa.

The products you will see this evening at the House of Hemp will surprise you in their diversity, ranging as they do from men's and ladies' fashion wear through to home d飯r, stationery, building materials and beauty and health products. All manufactured from hemp, they are produced for House of Hemp by small scale entrepreneurs from previously disadvantaged communities, with the assistance and support of the CSIR.
{source}
Go South Africa go! [Read more]

2 comments:

P said...

well - I'm sad to report that its damn near next to impossible at this point in time to manufacture hemp products on South African soil.
This is really old news and there was from what I can gather misapropriation of about R50 million and now the govt aint keen on any hemp initiatives in South Africa.
The few people I know who are dealing with hemp in one way or another are doing so on the low and you won't find them listed on the Yellow pages.
If you try to get a hold of the people from the House of Hemp SA you will not be able to get a hold of them. I've tried for 2 years with NO success - not even an indication that they exist.
The cold press machines that were bought for small enterprise in the Western Cape are sitting away (still in their packaging) rusting away in some warehouse.
The CSIR hemp research in Rustenburg is not getting adequate funding - if any and because of the current climate towards hemp in South Africa - it has chased away the best brains and most experienced individuals to search other fields and are eaqually impossible to get a hold of.
As you can tell - the future of hemp is bleak - dispite the enthusiasm of some really spirited people in SA.
I've been trying to launch Hemperors Manufacturing of human edibles for about 2 years now.
One could say I'm unable to overcome the "challenges" but the resistance I've met so far is insurmountable and I'm having to rethink how best to achieve my dream.

Info Tek said...

Puwai, thanks for your informative and insightful comment. What I'm trying to gather after reading it is this: Is the SA government against hemp because they've fell in line with the Western "program" to protect big business? Or, is it just BAD execution of the Hemp game plan??

You mentioned that R50 million was misappropriated. But that's just corruption rearing it's ugly head. What if said funds were allocated properly where proper education and evangelism took place?? I'm sure things would've been different by now. No?

Again, thanks for your comment!