By Emmanuel Nduka
Men of the South African police on Wednesday uprooted marijuana plants grown by indigenous activists led by a self-acclaimed ‘King Khoisan South Africa’ who have camped outside President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office for more than three years, AFP reports.
Leader of the group who wore a traditional garment, clung to a shoulder-height plant as police dragged it across the Presidential lawn in Pretoria before arresting him.
Resisting arrest, he shouted: “Police… you have declared war.”
“We have been here peacefully. We are coming for you,” he warned.
The Khoisan were formerly known as Bushmen or Hottentots — a name coined by Dutch settlers in the 17h century, reflecting the clicks characteristic of their languages.
During the raid, another activist yelled in Afrikaans at the police, asking them: “For plants? For plants? You are rubbish people in uniforms.”
The group’s cover tents have been a fixture on the emerald lawns of the Ramaphosa’s office since 2018, when they began a campaign for official recognition of their languages.
One of the tents is just metres away from a giant bronze statue of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black President.
Around two dozen police, some in riot gear, others mounted on horseback and some with sniffer dogs, raided the small group.
South Africa’s apex court in 2018 decriminalised the private and personal use of cannabis in a landmark case that pitted law enforcement agencies against advocates of the plant, known locally as dagga.
