What is my status if I was convicted of cannabis possession?
If you were arrested and convicted of possession of cannabis, you have a criminal record. Even if you never appeared in court but paid an admission of guilt fine, you may not even know that you have a criminal record.
The good news is that your criminal record can be expunged or removed completely. Expungement can give you a fresh start. No one will ever know that you were convicted in the first place.
Expunging your criminal record means all records related to a particular criminal conviction will be removed from public view and physically destroyed or ‘sealed’. An expunged conviction is not visible in background checks, and employers are not permitted to consider an expunged conviction when making hiring decisions.
The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act of 2024 provides for the automatic expungement of criminal records of all persons convicted of possession or use of cannabis or dealing in cannabis on the basis of presumption. The Criminal Record Centre of the South African Police Service should automatically expunge your conviction and sentence.
The Act goes on to say that in the event that you find that your criminal record has not been automatically expunged, you have the right to file a written application to the Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for the expungement of your criminal record. The Director-General shall, upon receipt of your application, effect the expungement by issuing you a Certificate of Expungement of your criminal record, if you meet the criteria specified in the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act.
Unfortunately, however, the relevant provisions of the Act are not yet in force as we wait for regulations to be promulgated. You still unfortunately have to wait 10 years after conviction to make an application for expungement of your cannabis-related criminal record.
So in practice, the answer to the question “What is my status if I was convicted of cannabis possession?” is that you do have criminal record, and yes, you must make an application for expungement, which will be treated by the Department of Justice on a case-by-case basis. If successful, the Department will direct the Criminal Record Centre of SAPS to delete your conviction from the system. You can then apply for a clean Police Clearance Certificate from SAPS.
The application normally takes at least two months to be processed by the Department of Justice. If you need a clean record urgently – to get a visa or a job – you can ask for an urgent expungement. This requires a detailed motivation with supporting documents.
Delaney Attorneys is a cannabis-rights law firm. We have been processing the expungements of cannabis-related criminal records for the last 10 years.
Delaney Attorneys fully support #StopTheCops and Fields of Green for ALL (NPC).
You can learn how to #StopTheCops HERE
You can learn to #KnowYourRights HERE
For assistance with all cannabis-law-related queries, please contact:
Simon Delaney at Delaney Attorneys
+27 83 397 0057
So does this mean i still have to wait for 10 years to get my cannabis convictions expunged
Hey Greg, Once the Act becomes active law expungements will start happeing. The Draft regulations which are currently open for comment have a bit on expungements also.
Repairs n Reparations is a Must. Relief and Redress is part of Batho Pele Principle. Respect and Value for money is part of Batho Pele Principle. So Why do u exclude Finacial damages committed by u against the majority of these country. Moreover we the black people we are the one at the receiving end because I don’t remember a single white boy or white woman ever been arrested for ganja. ANC government stop being brutal and pave way for the positive vibrations. One of the key Principle of gvt policies fundamentally is to show respect to its citizens by acknowledging the wrong done.and provide full and fair remedies to undo the wrong done. You can’t do wrong and failed to provide Batho Pele Principle as an applicable remedy. On the 29th November 2016, the Magistrate Mr De Gaiveia Manuel the former Magistrate for District Magistrate Court in Odendaalsrus , hardly four months before the exemption on Marijuana denied me a Leave to appeal his decision in High Court indicating that other court are to take the same judgements he took on me by sentencing me to five years suspended sentence with penalty Fine of R5000 after I have planted ganja on my home for personal use. I was ordered to pay R500 for 10 months and on my fourth payment, an exemption was granted by the Western Cape High Court nullifying his poor judgment, his poor insight, inconsistent with legal administrative protocols, intolerable and unjust and above all showing lack of respect for Black people.. Attached is the latter I wrote to his Seniors for his immediate suspension and possible dismissal for that in its own was a betrayal of his oath that he will serve our communities with justice and honor which he betray as a white supremacy boy positioned by ANC / 666 to frustrate the children of the Most High God. Let me remind you ANC, your perpetual appeal of our case and your brutal persecution of Rastas prior exemption, has demonstrated purely who you are.Thanks you have reveal yourself to clearly to even the blind men to see that you are not for the Africans but the deceiver of the the majority of this country. Your time is coming and by your works so shall you be rewarded.My case number is A66/16. I Man will never rest until justice is served and the poor children of this country delivered from the wicked hand of white supremacy.
Hi Sello, We hear you but we are not the ANC. We are a civil society organisation. You can read about who we are under the about us page. Our founders are still out on bail 15 years later, while fighting for the liberation of our plant & commmunity. Fields of Green for ALL. We do reccommend contacting the Human Rights Commission, they have been engaging and working on the targeting & abuse of The rasta Community by SAPS.