Rehana Rossouw
In a field on the edge of Parkwood Estate in Cape Town is a ramshackle wooden building with a tiny garden lending a splash of colour to the dreary township. The garden is filled with petunias, marigolds, tomatoes, cabbages … and dagga. This is the home of Bernard Brown of the Burning Spear Movement, a Rastafarian congregation with close to 1 000 members. This is where they want to retreat from the modern, capitalist world they call Babylon, plant a larger garden to feed themselves, and worship Jah (God) with the help of regular spliffs. But the area is also regularly targeted by police, who arrested Brown and fellow Rastafarian Quinton Solomons in June last year and charged them with possessing 80 dagga plants. The two have refused to plead to the charges in the magistrates court, saying they want the case taken to the Constitutional Court, where they can contest their right to smoke dagga. They have identified no fewer than 34 clauses in the draft Constitution which they say indemnify them from prosecution — clauses relating to religious freedom, indigenous law, freedom of association, discrimination, promotion of culture and even those protecting business from state interference. `We use ganja for religious purposes, but in South Africa today it is illegal, so our religion is regarded as being illegal. This is completely out of step with the draft constitution, which allows freedom of religion,’ said Brown. He was drawn to Rastafarianism in 1979. `A few of us gathered regularly and learned about ancient Christian values, revived from Ethiopia by Haile Selassie, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, conquering lion of the tribe of Judah, whom we believe is from the line of King David and fullfilled the prophecy of Jesus Christ,’ Brown said. `I found myself working so I could have just enough money to buy books on Rastafarianism so I could learn more and liberate myself from spiritual slavery. Rastas are not materialistic, we do not need money to survive. Brown said Rastas believe their bodies are temples of God and do not contaminate them with alcohol or processed and preserved foods. Most are vegetarian. They separate themselves from decadent society so they can maintain their purity. He stopped cutting his hair in 1979 and grew dreadlocks, following a verse in Numbers which indicated that Nazarites like Jesus Christ did not cut their hair or beards. Brown said the Burning Spear Movement was not seeking conflict with the authorities over the issue of the legalisation of dagga, as the religion preached negotiation. Rastas had participated in United Democratic Front activities in the 1980s, but withdrew when protests against the government became violent. `You can never find a solution when you go to war; we would rather spend our time praying. When the negotiations started in South Africa, we stepped back in. We marched for the legalisation of ganja after 45 years of banning, and the freedom to practise our religion,’ Brown said. `We explained that we don’t use chemicals like mandrax, we don’t even touch tobacco. We use ganja for spiritual upliftment, to meditate on the laws of God and for ancestor worship. But still I went to jail twice after those discussions with the police.’ Brown believes Rastas are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. He has been to jail eight times on dagga-related charges, and was committed in 1987 to the Valkenberg Mental Hospital for three months. `Jail had no effect on me. I remained a Rasta every time I was
Although Brown does not believe in working in the `Babylon system’, he makes ends meet by growing and selling vegetables. He also provides vegetables for a soup kitchen which feeds school children in Parkwood. The Burning Spear Movement would also like the government to reintroduce the wide-scale cultivation of dagga, which they say was what the Khoi-Khoi did before South Africa was colonised. `No-one has ever died of a dagga overdose; in fact it has widespread medicinal use. Traditional healers have been using it for centuries and now modern medicine is realising it can be used for asthma, to treat the nausea of chemotherapy patients and stimulate the appetites of people with Aids,’ said Burning Spear member Naftali. With South Africa’s dagga crop estimated by police to be worth R54-billion last year, the Rastas believe state-approved cultivation of hemp could be worth double that. Hemp can be used to produce fabric, paper, rope and fuel. The movement has made a submission to the Constitutional Assembly accompanied by supporting research and documentation, as well as a film on the uses of dagga. Brent Williams, a lawyer representing Brown and Solomons in their petition to the Constitutional Court, said the matter was bedevilled by the conservatism of Cape magistrates and the absence of expert witnesses on Rastafarianism in South Africa. He had found a case heard in the Zimbabwe Supreme Court concerning a lawyer who was not admitted to the bar as he was deemed unsuitable because he was dreadlocked. The supreme court decided that Rastafarianism had to be regarded as a religion. `The case sheds some light on the religion and seems to be precisely what we are dealing with here. Expert testimony was given by a gentleman called Horace Campbell, who is a scholar and has written a book on Rastafarianism. If I could find him and get an affidavit from him, we would be well on our way.’