The Plights of African Resources Patenting through the Lenses of the World Trade Organisation: An Assessment of South Africa’s Rooibos Tea’s Labyrith Journey

Abstract

Background: Just as developing states are blessed with natural resources capable of transforming their economies into a positive direction, the imposed World Trade Organisation's (WTO) mores continue to relegate them to status of underdevelopment. The consequences of this on investment, trade and finance in Third World States (TWSs), especially Africa, are disarticulation of the economy, exploitation, disinvestment, unemployment, political instability and unavailability of relevant technology to move TWSs forward, among others. This gives rise to the politics behind Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) patenting (a medicinal plant found only in South Africa) by various multinational corporations (MNCs). Materials and methods:This study adopted political economy approach with emphasis on both primary and secondary sources of data collection using content analysis. Result: There is need to adhere strictly to the issues of intellectual property rights (IPRs), geographical indications (GIs), prior informed consent (PIC), and access and sharing benefits (ASB). These have not been observed by the western states because of their economic of neo-imperialism to the disadvantage of developing states. Conclusion: This paper recommends that there is need for a regional regime such as African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), on indigenous knowledge (IK) to patent the continental biodiversity resources.

Politics of Biopiracy: An Adventure Into Hoodia/Xhoba Patenting in Southern Africa

“…Question of GIs should be addressed with caution. Large part of the areas where Hoodia can be found are occupied by the whites as the case of Rooibos discussed elsewhere (Amusan, 2014). Issues that may generate more argument is who are the present occupier of the area?…”

“…This approach does not address some issues of GIs and indigenous communities' concepts (Amusan, 2014). Problem of classification of indigenous peoples that have rights to Hoodia, a plant that has different species, but use for almost the same way is a problem that fails to receive rigorous academic attention.…”

“…The Boers Afrikaners that are into commercial plantation of Hoodia in South Africa with their improved seeds through genetic modification, which may contaminate wild Hoodia despite CITES arrangement to maintain the original product. In this situation, IPRs and TRIPs may bring about financial burden to the small-scale farmers that maintains wild Hoodia in their farm as the case of Rooibos and Masakhane Pelargonium in South Africa demonstrate (Amusan, 2014;Msomi & Matthews, 2015).…”

“…Despite their small in population, this minority and indigenous peoples in their different countries have global influence that makes their culture and heritage significant in the comity of nations. As discussed elsewhere (Amusan, 2014), there are various international regimes that protect indigenous knowledge and culture through CBD in the form of ASB, PIC and GIs. In 1996, San were able to come together under an umbrella of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in southern Africa (WIMSA) to represent Sans from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa with the aim of consolidating their linguistic and cultural diversity.…”

Global Gender and Environment Outlook 2016

“…Without such a protocol, patents would grant companies -and other actors -full rights to certain genetic resources without the free, prior and informed consent of communities who traditionally use them (Forest Peoples Programme 2016), meaning that these resources become private property. In the case of Rooibos and Honeybush in South Africa in 2010, a big multinational corporation had five pending patent applications (Box 2.6.8) (Amusen 2014;ICTSD 2010).…”