Is Khat legal in South Africa?

Legal status

Controlled as an undesirable dependence-producing substance under Schedule 2 Part III of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992.

Consequences if caught

The plant is not named and it does not have to be. Section 1 defines an undesirable dependence-producing substance as "any substance or any plant from which a substance can be manufactured included in Part III of Schedule 2", and defines manufacture to include "the preparing, extraction or producing of the substance". Part III prints "Cathinone." so a plant yielding cathinone falls inside that definition. The same plant also yields the substance printed in Part I as "Cathine ((+)-norpseudoephedrine), except preparations and mixtures containing 50 milligrams or less of cathine per dosage unit." which brings the section 1 definition of a dependence-producing substance into play as well. Section 4 (b) forbids the use or possession of any dangerous dependence-producing substance or undesirable dependence-producing substance. Section 13 (d) makes that an offence and section 17 (d) fixes the penalty at such fine as the court may deem fit to impose, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years, or both. Dealing is section 5 (b), made an offence by section 13 (f) and punished under section 17 (e) by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years, or by both that imprisonment and such fine as the court may deem fit to impose. The reader should note how wide dealing is: section 1 defines deal in to include transhipment, importation, cultivation, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission and exportation. The split matters: conduct answered by the Part I constituent carries five years for possession and 10 for dealing under sections 17 (b) and 17 (c), while conduct answered by the Part III constituent carries 15 and 25. Capital exposure: none, and life exposure: none. Section 17 sets out the whole penalty scale of this Act and its highest figure is 25 years for dealing; no provision of the Act carries a death sentence or a sentence of life imprisonment.

If prescribed or medical

The Act's own lawful route is the set of exceptions in section 4, paragraphs (i) to (vi). A patient falls outside section 4 only where the substance was acquired from a medical practitioner, dentist or practitioner acting in a professional capacity and in accordance with the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965, or from a pharmacist on that person's oral instruction or written prescription, and is used for medicinal purposes under that person's care or treatment. Section 2 states that this Act applies in addition to, and not in substitution for, the Medicines Act. The Medicines Act schedules themselves are not held in this repository and were not read for this cell, so no medicine schedule number is stated here. No prescription route arises for this plant. The Part I entry carries a dosage exception for preparations containing 50 milligrams or less of that substance per dosage unit, which is a formulation exception and not a traveller allowance for the leaf.

Documentation

Search record. The terms searched were khat, qat, cat, Catha edulis, cathinone and cathine. The plant names return nothing in either schedule; the two alkaloid names return two printed entries in two different Parts. [Certain] that the leaf yields cathinone and cathine. The route used here is the section 1 plant limb, not the homologue limb, and the dossier for this row did not use it. The text read for this cell is the Juta consolidation of the Act downloaded on 29 May 2025, taken from the Department of Justice copy at justice.gov.za whose sha256 begins bc1216a3. It carries the substitution of Schedules 1 and 2 by section 2 of Act 14 of 2022 with effect from 14 December 2022, and it marks section 7 of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024, the provision that would amend Schedule 2 again, as not yet put into operation by proclamation. The schedules are stated as at that consolidation and this does not rule out a later amendment made or commenced since.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with South Africa’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.