Makhura wants Gauteng high on list of SA’s top cannabis producers

Gauteng Premier David Makhura wants the province to become the country’s largest producer of industrial cannabis.

This is part of the provincial government’s plan to reignite the economy and take the lead in the country’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan as well as Africa’s industrialisation.

ALSO READ: Makhura sends stern warning to those implicated in PPE corruption

“The new sector of the economy is the cannabis industry, we want to be the industrial hub, we already have the industrial infrastructure for industrial processing of cannabis, not to smoke,” Makhura said in his state of the province address on Tuesday morning.

“The processing of cannabis, particularly cannabis for health purposes and for other parts of improving the quality of human life… when it is processed it has got many properties that help.”

“We focusing on our high-growth priority sectors and infrastructure investment projects that will unlock the transformation, modernisation, and reindustrialisation of the different corridors and districts of our city region,” Makhura said.

ALSO READ: Good news on cannabis

He said that the province would be focusing on:

• Automotive, aerospace and defence
• Transportation and logistics
• ICT and digital services with a focus on the gig economy
• Energy, with a focus on new technologies and diversifying the energy mix
• Tourism and hospitality
• Food, beverages, agro-processing and agribusiness
• Construction and infrastructure
• Financial services
• Cultural and creative services
• Industrial cannabis

“We have one common plan, this has been reaffirmed and this is heartwarming for me it has been reaffirmed by all municipalities in our province regardless of who is in charge of which municipality.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.