READER LETTER | Give villagers land to grow marijuana

We are all sentient beings. And with our different body sizes, skin tones, voices and hair textures, together we make the world beautiful as the blessed.

White farmers’ land was seized in Zimbabwe. Recently, $3,5bn was offered to be paid over 10 years as compensation. The farmers declined the offer as meagre and demanded their farms back. The battle is to be waged in the constitutional court of SA.

This shows how important land is as a means of empowering humans economically. Shrewd white Zimbabweans have historical memory and cannot move on as we are often told to do.

The sitting ANC government was given an overwhelming victory in 1994 with a clear mandate to uplift the landless blacks – a costly struggle waged for centuries. Before the ANC’s electoral term ends, may they bow out humanely.

Give black villagers land to grow cannabis. Assist and support them to start manufacturing firms to process it in its multitude uses. Legalise its trading like the deadly alcohol with the same restrictions applied. Turn poverty-stricken communities into vibrant and flourishing economies.

Many families fed and educated their children through the sale of this illicit herb. In the process they were arrested, fined or jailed. For pain and sufferings incurred, give them 25 years’ grace of free trade before foreigners can enter the market.

The outgoing ANC will be best remembered for allowing our borders to be porous, which caused immense hardship for the marginalised masses.

Thami Zwane, Edenvale, Ekurhuleni