DAGGA ON TRIAL IN EC TEST CASE
Court to rule on legalisation of the plant
THE future of multimillionrand dagga crops grown in the Eastern Cape hangs in the balance as South African magistrates and judges hold off on ruling in dagga dealing and possession cases.
This is because activists are pushing for the legalisation of dagga to be decided by the high courts but the matter will probably go as high as the Constitutional Court, argued East London attorney Andre Schoombee yesterday.
He was appearing in a case in the East London Magistrate’s Court which will serve as a critical test case for dagga farmers in the former Transkei.
If Schoombee succeeds – the ruling will be made today – the case will join the list of at least three other high-profile matters being postponed in Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
Schoombee delivered an impassioned plea for the charge of possession and dealing in dagga against his client, 25-year-old Cambridge, East London club DJ Paul Love, to join the queue of postponed cases.
Police have been heavily criticised for using toxic poisons to spray crops in the famous dagga fields around Port St Johns and Lusikisiki, and for also poisoning small farmer’s food crops.
Yesterday, in Magistrate Nomaxabiso Mvumbi’s tiny D court, tucked away in the bowels of the East London Magistrate’s Court complex, the magistrate was warned by prosecutor Kurt Swartz that if she agreed, this would set a precedent for other cases.
He said there was a high “prevalence” of dagga usage and dealing in the province.
This was a small reference to the fact that a postponement could mean that all future big busts of dagga coming across the Kei could also see attorneys arguing for similar postponements.
Schoombee told the magistrate these rulings, especially the socalled “trial of the plant” matter in Pretoria’s High Court, are only expected almost a year from now.
Warrant officer Wiele Coetzee, the investigating officer from the organised crime and drug unit listened intently from the gallery and was seen in animated conversation with fellow police officers during the adjournment.
In his submission, Schoombee made it clear that he believed the dagga cases would make it all the way to the Constitutional Court.
He said the full bench of the Cape Town High Court had decided to postponed the case for legalisation and an end to prosecutions brought by Rastafarian attorney Garreth Prince and Jeremy Acton of the Dagga Party of SA until December 13 to allow government departments to respond.
He told the magistrate that Judge Dennis Davis had commented that the matter had to be taken seriously as it could go to the Constitutional Court for a final decision. After his plea, magistrate Mvumbi adjourned the case for at least 20 minutes, then returned and called Schoombee and Swartz into her chambers.
After arguments were heard, she said the case would be “rolled over” until this morning to give her time to read up on the cases.
Love, a local club DJ, is charged with dealing in small amounts of dagga – but also methamphetamine (tik). He is out on bail of R3 000.
According to the charge sheet, the Cambridge resident sold dagga three times and tik once to undercover agents over three consecutive days. The deals all allegedly happened in Laurel Road in Stoney Drift.
● On August 30 he allegedly sold 10 grams of cannabis;
● On August 31 he allegedly sold seven grams; and
● On September 1 he allegedly sold 12.74 grams of cannabis and 4.56 grams of tik. —