Cannabis production in Lesotho and the SADC Region

Cannabis production in Lesotho and the SADC Region

Stes de Necker

The tiny, landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho, with an area of just 30,000km² and a population of around two million, is an enclave entirely surrounded by South Africa.

Independent of Great Britain since 1966, Lesotho has struggled to develop and improve, and remains poverty-stricken, underdeveloped and hugely unequal. Lesotho’s rugged, mountainous terrain is ideal for cultivating small plots of cannabis without attracting the attention of the authorities

Law & International Policy

Cultivation of cannabis is not illegal under Lesotho law, and although possession and sale is prohibited by law it is rarely enforced and enjoys a de facto decriminalised status.

According to various reports, all sections of Lesotho society—including the police and government—turn a blind eye to cannabis in recognition of the more severe consequences that would result if its cultivation was severely restricted and Lesotho’s rural poor therefore subject to straitened financial circumstances.

The first political party of Lesotho (the Basutho National Congress for Independence), which led the country to independence, had two main issues—independence for Lesotho, and legalisation of cannabis.

However, since independence was achieved, there has been little dialogue at the top level regarding cannabis legislation in Lesotho.

Cannabis Arrests & Sentences

While few arrests are made for cannabis possession within Lesotho, residents of Lesotho are often arrested when attempting to transport cannabis from Lesotho to South Africa. Usually, such cases will result in confiscation or fines proportionate to the amount seized.

Lesotho grows a huge quantity of cannabis, much of it destined for export to South Africa

In 2011, a large-scale operation was mounted with the combined police forces of South Africa and Lesotho to eradicate and seize cannabis in the eastern part of the country. Roadblocks in the areas that are in most common use as trafficking routes are also commonplace.

As a result of eradications and seizures, many cannabis cultivators have been forced to relocate further upland, where the terrain is less than ideal for cultivation of cannabis. Eradications may also entail use of toxic chemicals that can adversely affect surrounding ecosystems.

The Cannabis Trade in Lesotho

Cannabis is a cash crop of unparalleled significance to much of Lesotho’s rural poor—so much so that the authorities there have essentially turned a blind eye to cannabis cultivation, recognising that it is a necessary part of the agricultural economy and acknowledging the negative consequences that would undoubtedly arise from more restrictive policies.

Police resources are too few to effectively criminalise cannabis cultivation; furthermore, in a democracy such as Lesotho, the rural population can easily vote out elected officials that are hostile towards cannabis.

Lesotho’s hilly, rugged terrain is ideal for small, discreet plots of cannabis, which have sprung up throughout the country. In the valleys, the soil is fertile, and water is relatively abundant, so harvests can be high and farms may consist of larger, plantation-style plots. However, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, commenced in 1998 and completed in 2004, displaced many rural families and forced them to relocate either to higher altitudes—which can have much poorer soil—or to the cities in search of employment.

Cannabis is planted between mid-August and early October, and the first harvest takes place in January, at which point the fast-ripening males are removed and the females left to mature. The male leaves are often sold as majaja, a low-cost form of cannabis that is often smoked with other drugs, such as Mandrax, which do not burn readily. The female matekoane is harvested between February and April.

Although politically independent, Lesotho relies heavily on South Africa, both as a buyer for the bulk of Lesotho exports and as an employer of much of the workforce, primarily in the gold and copper mines. Indeed, the bulk of cannabis grown in Lesotho is destined for South Africa, where much of it is consumed domestically and the surplus exported throughout the world.

Traditional Use of Cannabis in Lesotho

Cannabis has been an integral part of tribal life in Lesotho for many centuries; first brought to East Africa by Portuguese and Arab traders between the 10th and the 15th centuries, its spread throughout central and southern Africa was assisted by the indigenous Bantu tribes people of the region.

It is thought that a particular ethnic group, the Koena people, migrated southwards from Mpumalanga to settle in Lesotho, and that they even purchased land from the San (Bushmen) tribes of the region in exchange for cannabis.

Cannabis is referred to as ‘metakoane’ in Sesotho, the native tongue of Lesotho (Lesotho itself means “the land of the people that speak Sesotho”); it is used as a herbal remedy for headaches, heartburn and high blood pressure, and is infrequently abused. It may also be used to stimulate the appetite, and to increase feelings of “strength” and motivation while working. Furthermore, cannabis is used to treat livestock suffering from parasitic worms.

Although cannabis is smoked on a large scale, alcohol is by far the source of most substance abuse.

Modern Attitudes to Cannabis

Cannabis is such an important commercial commodity that there is much cultural and social acceptance of it. Many of the farmers that produce it view it as a purely commercial item and do not necessarily consume it themselves.

However, use throughout Lesotho society is ubiquitous, as is acceptance of the cannabis trade and those who are employed within it.

Furthermore, despite a lack of clear evidence, there are many indications that politicians and police are aware of the cannabis industry, and that they turn a blind eye to (or are even involved in) the trade.

CANNABIS IN THE SADC REGION

Cannabis producers in the SADC Region can be classified into three groups:

1. Marginal domestic producers.

2. Substantial domestic producers

3. Major international producers.

1. Marginal domestic producers.

Botswana:

In Botswana it is grown in small patches, primarily for personal consumption. Eradication efforts by the Botswana police have contributed to keeping production levels low.

In 2002 the authorities seized 1,268 kg of cannabis but most of it was imported by Zimbabwean smugglers or came from Mozambique and Lesotho.

However, it remains the drug of choice in Botswana, due to its low price.

Namibia:

In Namibia cannabis cultivation takes place on a relatively small scale and is restricted to the northern part of the country, where rainfall is higher than in the arid south.

The bulk of cannabis consumed in Namibia originates from South Africa but some is also imported from Angola and Zambia.

Large quantities are smuggled by organised networks, normally on behalf of Cape Town-based syndicates, using furniture removal vans and large trucks carrying bulk goods.

Cultivation of cannabis in Botswana and Namibia is therefore on a small scale, often for personal consumption, and is not enough to meet domestic demand.

2. Substantial domestic producers

This includes those SADC countries that produce substantial quantities of cannabis but whose cross-border trafficking of the drug to neighbouring countries appears to be insignificant.

Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mauritius, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe fall into this category.

The lack of information in a number of SADC countries about crime levels in general, and cannabis cultivation and trafficking in particular, is an important limiting factor when considering into which of the categories a country should be placed. For example, hardly any information is available about the extent of cultivation and trafficking in the DRC and it may well be a country from which significant quantities are exported to neighbouring states.

However, until more information become s available, it is categorised as a substantial domestic producer and not (yet) a major exporter.

Substantial domestic producers all have a suitable climate and a geography that will allow for expansion of production should the market require it.

Angola:

Angola is slowly emerging from civil strife and war that stretched over more than two decades.

It has not produced any official statistics on the cultivation of or trafficking in drugs, but cannabis is cultivated for local consumption and is widespread in the central highlands, the east and north-eastern areas of the country.  The north-east of Angola has produced cannabis for local consumption and trafficking for many years.

Before independence in 1975, the area’s cannabis was sold to visiting ships in Luanda.

More recently, authorities have started to take steps against traffickers, as illustrated by the public burning of approximately 300 kg of cannabis on International Day to Combat Drugs in 2001.

The climate in large parts of Angola is suitable for cannabis cultivation and as stability returns to the country and its international trading routes expand, a significant expansion in cultivation and trafficking can be expected.

The supply potential is enormous in a large country with a relatively small population and a lack of resources to police large parts of it.

Democratic Republic of Congo:

Very little information on cannabis cultivation and trafficking is available from the DRC but it is thought that it is widespread.

According to the UNODC, cannabis appears to be replacing staple crops such as maize in the provinces of Kasai, Bandundu and Lower Congo because it is far more lucrative.  The DRC is an enormous country with ideal geographic and climatic conditions for cultivation of the drug, but it has been ravaged by war for many years.

There is a likelihood that substantial increases in production and trafficking will occur if the country stabilises and the violent conflicts end.

Mauritius:

The island state of Mauritius also has a climate that is conducive to cannabis cultivation.

However, it is relatively small with a population of approximately of 1.4 million people and over many years the police have taken steps against both growers and traffickers.

According to the Mauritius police, drug abuse is confined to cannabis and heroin, with cannabis being the most popular.

It is cultivated mainly in sugar cane fields and in the woodland areas.

In 1994 some 281 people were arrested for possession of cannabis (or gandia, as it is called locally) but by 1997 arrests had grown to 667.

Police statistics suggest that cultivation increased during the 1990s but the numbers of reported cases of cultivation, arrests for cultivating and plants uprooted by the police, all declined after 2000.

This could be a result of increased police operations, which raised the risks for those involved.

However, an alternative and less risky method of meeting the Mauritian demand for cannabis now appears to be its importation into the country.

Police reported no cases in the 1990s but 12 cases of importation were reported in 2000 and eight in 2001.

According to the police, the imported cannabis originated from the neighbouring islands of Madagascar and Reunion.

Seychelles:

The small island complex of Seychelles, with a total population of approximately 80,500 people, is also a member country of SADC.

Hardly any information about drug trafficking is available. However, cannabis is grown in mountainous and inaccessible parts of the island and appears to be consumed locally but not exported.

The police nevertheless regard the cultivation as a priority crime, as it is the main illegal drug consumed in Seychelles.

Zambia:

The main drugs abused in Zambia are alcohol and cannabis.

The latter is grown as a cash crop in many parts of the country, primarily by subsistence farmers who plant it alongside other crops for income.

The climate in many parts of Zambia is well suited to  its cultivation.

A lack of information about cannabis trafficking makes it difficult to assess the possible extent of the trafficking across Zambia’s borders to neighbouring countries. According to the US Department of State, most of Zambia’s cannabis crop is exported to other countries.

Substantial seizures, 13 tons during 2001 and 12 tons during 2002, support the view that large volumes are produced and that trafficking across borders is probably more extensive than available information suggests.

Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe is both a producer and a transit country for cannabis (where it is called mbanje).

In the west it is produced in areas such as the Binga region while in the Eastern Highlands the main areas are Ruangwe, Nyanga, Chipinge and Chiredzi. Cultivation is also rife in Mtolo, in the north-east.

Small-scale growers often cultivate the crop as a survival mechanism in a country where the economy has declined dramatically. Police refer to the recent emergence of ‘big time’ traffickers who source cannabis from border regions such as Binga.

According to police and other estimates, Zimbabwean-produced cannabis is not sufficient to satisfy domestic demand and the bulk is therefore imported from Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa.

The US Department of State estimates that 80% of the cannabis in Zimbabwe is imported.

A significant component of the imported cannabis is earmarked for transit by road through Zimbabwe to, for example, Botswana and South Africa. Some recent seizures confirm this: in November 2002, Zimbabwean police confiscated 48 kg of cannabis from the top of a bus that was planning to travel to the city of Bulawayo.

According to the police it had been transported into Zimbabwe from neighbouring Mozambique and was to be partly sold in the Bulawayo area and partly exported to countries such as Botswana. Two Mozambicans were arrested.

Some Zimbabwean-grown cannabis is also destined for export abroad. The UK and Europe are some of the destinations where packaged forms of the compressed drug have been intercepted while in transit by air.

3. Major international producers.

This category of countries produces substantial crops of cannabis for local consumption and trafficking to neighbouring countries and the international market abroad.

The countries include Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania.

They constitute the main source of supply from Southern Africa for the international cannabis market.

Lesotho:

Again, as in some other SADC countries, alcohol and cannabis are the main source of substance abuse in Lesotho.

Cannabis is smuggled to South African destinations across mountain passes and through the many porous border areas. Information relating to seizures is not available but Lesotho has been a well-known source of high quality cannabis to South African consumers over many decades.

The UNODC as well as the US Department of State believe that some shipments may be trafficked to Europe.

Malawi:

Malawi is one of the largest producers of cannabis (known locally as chamba) in Southern Africa.

As mentioned above, the UN reported that during 2000 a total of 312 tons of cannabis were seized in the country. Figures supplied by the Malawi police suggest that figure for 2000 was slightly lower, at 288.8 tons, and that a substantial drop occurred during 2001 to 60.3 tons.

According to the 2001 Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which measures a country’s achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income, Malawi is one of the 15 least developed and poorest countries of the 162 listed. It has been categorised as a ‘least developed country’ along with five other SADC member states.

Poverty has therefore led many Malawians to engage in the cultivation of chamba.

Large parts of the country are well suited for its cultivation and it does not require additional farming inputs, as is the case with other crops.

Most importantly, it fetches better prices than other cash crops.

Income from the cultivation of the cannabis has transformed many former staple and cash crop farmers in the central and northern regions into regular suppliers of cannabis for a ready market.

That probably explains why the cultivation, consumption, and trafficking of cannabis constitutes the largest type of illicit activity in Malawi.

Women are frequently involved at the production or cultivation level, while men generally undertake selling and trafficking.

International organised criminal groups have employed individual Malawians or Malawian families to purchase cannabis from local producers. The drug is transported to Blantyre and from there onwards to Zimbabwe and South Africa, mostly on trucks that carry export commodities from Malawi.

According to the Malawi police cannabis production is steadily increasing and there is no sign of it being reversed. They estimate that during 2000, it was being cultivated on 175,000 hectares of land throughout the country.

It is cultivated on a large scale in the Nkhotakota district along the banks of Lupache river, in the Mzimba district's Likwawa hills, and to a lesser extent in the Ntchisi, Kasungu Ntcheu and Dedza districts.

In October 2000, the police carried out an operation in the Nkhotakota and Mzimba areas, destroying 31.5 tons of the crop, growing on an area of 51.75 hectares.

The Malawi police have taken active steps to try and counter production over a considerable period of time and have produced statistics that show the magnitude of the problem that they face.

Mozambique:

Although the government of Mozambique has no estimate of the size of the cannabis crop in the country as a whole, it has produced some seizure figures that clearly point to substantial quantities being cultivated and a substantial increase in seizures during the past five years.

They differ somewhat from the figures provided by the UN, in that the Mozambique police figure for 2000 is 3.7 tons seized while the UN figure is 1.7 tons.

The police figures also indicate that 2001 seizures increased to 8.1 tons.31 It is difficult to know whether increases in seizures should be attributed to increased cultivation or to increased police action. That more than eight tons that were seized in 2001 indicates large-scale cultivation in Mozambique, as the police in that country are known to have very limited resources and large parts of the country are not policed effectively.

There have been reports that ex-combatants, who found themselves without gainful employment after years of civil war, are cultivating plantations of cannabis for commercial purposes in the forested regions of Mozambique.

It is believed that they produce the bulk of Mozambique’s crop and that exports of the drug stem largely from these enterprises.

Cultivation also occurs on a smaller scale on small plots in large parts of the country, particularly in the provinces of Tete, Safala, Monica, Maputo, and Cabo Delgado.

Although local consumption is considerable, exports of cannabis do occur to neighbouring countries, primarily to South Africa.

South Africa:

According to Interpol, South Africa is one of the top four cannabis (or dagga as it is termed locally) suppliers in the world. The US Department of State and the UNODC in Pretoria also rank South Africa among the world’s largest producers, 33 34 Seizure figures do not necessarily support those conclusions , but cannabis seized by authorities probably only constitutes a fraction of the amounts that are actually trafficked.

During 2000, the South African Police Service (SAPS) seized 718 tons of the drug—16% of the world total confiscated by police. In 2001, 496 tons of cannabis worth US$64 million was seized—considerably less than the previous year’s seizure and than the more than 700 tons seized in 1994. Of significance is that most of the cannabis confiscated in the UK during 2001 and 2002 was South African in origin.

The main export market for South African cannabis is known to be continental Europe, the UK, Ireland and countries in the East such as South Korea. This is based on available documented cases and it would not be surprising if the market extends to far more than those areas.

Swaziland:

Swaziland, a small, poor, land - locked country, has a climate and soil that is conducive to the growing of cannabis. Most is grown in the north of the country, which is steep and hilly and not easily accessible by road.

This has limited the police’s ability to effectively patrol and enforce the law in that region.

Swazi-grown cannabis is internationally known to be of a high quality and is a sought after commodity in South Africa, Europe and in the UK.

Taking into account that almost 40% of the Swazi population lives in relative poverty, it is not surprising that cannabis is widely grown as a cash crop and that the country is one of the largest cannabis growing areas in the Southern African region.

Close co-operation between the Royal Swazi Police and the SAPS has led to frequent attempts to curtail the cultivation of the crop by way of aerial spraying with the help of South African helicopters. However, even with South African assistance the joint operations appear not to have made much of an impact. The Commissioner of the Po lice in Swaziland has acknowledged that the repeated destruction of large fields of cannabis plants has not produced any concrete results.

Of the cannabis that is harvested, the best quality is earmarked for compression into one or two kilogram blocks that are smuggled via South Africa and Mozambique to Europe and the UK.

Once the cannabis has been compressed, it is vacuum-packed in plastic bags or sealed with paper wrap and bound with adhesive tape. Pepper and curry powder have been known to be sprinkled on the packages to prevent sniffer dogs from identifying the contraband.

Middlemen linked to South African criminal networks, both domestic and international, are frequent visitors to Swaziland to negotiate transactions.

The compressed cannabis earmarked for export is first transported to Johannesburg, Durban or Maputo.

Nigerian criminal networks, some of them based in Swaziland, have moved into the dominant position in the Swazi cannabis trade during the past few years, and the proceeds of their sales in Europe are used to pay for cocaine purchased in South America, which is then smuggled to South Africa and elsewhere.

Numerous unguarded linkage roads and routes between South Africa and Swaziland are used to transport the cannabis to the markets.

Once the compressed cannabis arrives in Johannesburg or Durban, it is stored in homes or warehouses from where it is distributed to couriers or loaded onto containers to be shipped or flown abroad. The containers often contain other ‘legitimate’ cargo, such as furniture, so as to conceal the compressed cannabis.

Because of clampdowns, mainly by British customs officials, the smuggling of cannabis by sea has become more risky. An increasing share of export cannabis is therefore being sent through Johannesburg by couriers or as airfreight.

In 2000, three tons of compressed cannabis was seized in the UK in a container emanating from Swaziland. The following year, police in Swaziland seized a further 3.9 tons in a single raid.

The police are of the view that it was destined for export to the UK, where its street value would have been in the region of £15.6 million.

Tanzania:

In the past Tanzania has not featured as a significant producer of cannabis, but indications are that extensive cultivation and trafficking does in fact take place.

As is the case in so many of the poorer Southern African countries, many of Tanzania’s peasant farmers have turned to cannabis cultivation because of grinding poverty and the fall in commodity prices for traditional cash crops such as coffee, cotton, cashew nuts and sisal.

Ordinary peasant families are the basic production unit for cannabis in the country, both for consumption in Tanzania and for sale across its borders. Often, however, the paymasters and those who supervise the transportation are people of Somali or Arab origin.

Nationals from other countries, especially Kenya, have also played a role in contracting peasant farmers in north-eastern Tanzania. In these, more organised processes, families are recruited by drug dealers and provided with advance payment for the cultivation of one or two acres of land.

Cannabis is cultivated in 10 of the 20 regions of mainland Tanzania, especially in those that border on the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the DRC, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

Cultivation on contract for the illicit domestic or international markets has been expanding significantly. Peasant farmers are given an advance payment of up to TSh200,000 per acre, compared to the TSh4,000–10,000 that they would normally earn from an acre of coffee plants.

The police have undertaken seek-and-destroy operations against cannabis farms, using helicopters to identify and destroy the crops. Police statistics indicate that in 2001, 356 acres of ripe cannabis were identified and destroyed. In the same year, 265 tons were seized and destroyed.

This suggests an almost ten-fold increase over the 2000 figure of 24.3 tons supplied to the UN and referred to below. Police believe that as many as half of the families in the country’s ten regions are involved in cannabis cultivation.

The harvested crop is packed into sacks and taken to other destinations for further processing and eventual cross-border trafficking. Very little information about end destinations is available, but the trafficking does go beyond the neighbouring states to international destinations further afield.

Recent seizures indicate that markets as far away as Canada have already been penetrated: in June 2002, police seized approximately two tons of cannabis in Dar es Salaam, which was about to be exported to Canada.

Police also confirmed that in 1991 they seized five tons of cannabis. Tanzania therefore has the potential to become a key international supplier of the drug: it has the climate, a large impoverished rural population, vast and difficult to control borders, a good harbour and a long shoreline to facilitate exports.

Summary:

The brief outlines above indicate that extensive trafficking of cannabis takes place within the SADC region and that airports and harbours are used to export it to the UK, Ireland, Europe, South Korea, and North America.

An intricate network of cannabis traffickers operates throughout the Southern African region on a scale that is much larger than has been accepted until now.