A “king” of a South African indigenous community was arrested today outside the Pretoria presidential palace where members of the Hoysan tribe have been planting cannabis seedlings and have been camping for three years in protest.
A few members of the tribe have settled since 2018 in tents, on the lawn of the presidential palace, under the imposing statue of Nelson Mandela. They demand that their languages ​​and territories be officially recognized.
South African police have uprooted several cannabis plants growing near President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office in Pretoria.
They belonged to activists from the indigenous Khoisan community, some of whom have camped in the area for three years.https://t.co/ciQ5fVniVM– Baikamz (@ Baikamz1) January 12, 2022
Wearing only a blanket on his genitals, one of their representatives, who calls himself “King Hoisan”, was snatched from a one-meter-high sapling and shouted “You have declared war” on the police officers who went to uproot the plantation.
The use and possession of cannabis (“daga”, as it is called in South Africa) for private purposes is “tolerated” from 2018. But its use in public and trafficking are punishable by law.
About 20 police officers, some of them on horseback, mobilized to destroy the plantation.
Police confirmed that four people, aged between 22 and 54, had been arrested. All of them are prosecuted for daga trade, illegal cultivation and non-use of a mask in a public place.
The Hoysans, also known as the Bushmen, are called “Otentots” by the first Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 17th century, a name that referred to their rattlesnake language.
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