Press Release 06 September 2013
Cape dagga smokers gain third victory in High Court.
In the Cape Town High Court on Tuesday 3rd September, dagga legalisation in South Africa got a further boost when the two dagga prosecutions of a member of the Rastafarian religion, Ras Menelek Barend Wentzel of Robertson, were ordered postponed in the lower courts in order to allow Wentzel to summons the state to scientifically justify the prohibition and to question the constitutionality of the law. Wentzel's legal papers and the application were facilitated by the Dagga Party of South Africa.
The Honourable Justice Le Grange expressed his concern in the court that granting of such an application would establish a precedent that would allow other dagga prosecutions to be stopped, but the Advocate for the National Prosecuting Authority had issued notice of intention to abide by the Court's decision. Wentzel's application was also not opposed by the other respondents, the Minister of Justice Radebe and the Magistrates for Robertson and Ashton.