The event was made possible by the Duduza Local Drug Action Committee (DLDAC) with the purpose of raising awareness about the social ills caused by substance abuse and to come up with strategies that can help prevent the widespread abuse of substances in schools and the community.
Constable Harry Manaka from the Duduza SAPS says stakeholders that are part of this committee include the SAPS, Department of Correctional Services, Department of Social Development, mayoral office, municipal office, EMPD, religious groups, NGOs, South African National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependance (Sanca), drug users and recovering addicts.
See the gallery of the event here.
“This campaign was started by the committee as people who are there to oversee the problem of drugs and substance abuse in the area and try to devise solutions for it.
“We looked at substances and how they increase violence, hence we wanted to come up with a plan as stakeholders together with the community on how to solve it. Through this, we also aim to address the concerns of residents and to find ways on how we can work together to address substance abuse because we see that domestic violence and substance abuse have become a norm in our communities,” Manaka says.
He adds that in this dialogue they want to check if everyone in the community is doing enough and playing their role in this fight, then from there the committee will be able to find where things are going wrong and with the suggestions from the community, find ways on how they can move forward.
Manaka emphasises that it is imperative for all community members to get involved in the fight against crime and substance abuse so that they can combine their skills with the community’s recommendations and afterwards make a pledge to address these issues together.
Coordinator of the DLDAC, Johnson Tau, explains that the core function of the structure is to bring together government departments, NGOs and community based organisations, with the aim to prevent substance and drug abuse in the community.
He adds that they do so by facilitating awareness programmes in clinics, schools, prisons, military bases, drop-in centres and children’s homes.
“We identify addicts of drugs and alcohol, refer them to social workers for counselling along with their families and refer those who are severely addicted and can’t stop on their own, to rehab centres.
“But the challenge we have is that in our Nigel Cluster, we have high levels of youth crime and we find that the number one cause of this is substance abuse, since some are too addicted and don’t have the means to sustain the habit, they need to steal and sell the goods to get the drugs.
“We have also noticed that in most domestic violence cases we receive, substance abuse is the cause of the violence in homes,” says Tau.
He says because of drugs children are also leaving school early as they tend to be disruptive in class when high; they have anti-social behaviour, are loud, arrogant, fight and tend to be disrespectful.
One of the residents in the area who has shown concern for this issue is Gogo Matshidiso Mabaso (69) who has over the years written to various government departments asking for the officials to come to the area and help in dealing with the issue of drugs.
“As parents and grandparents we want to see our children study and have better futures than what we had, but these drugs are killing them.
“When I would go to church in the mornings, I would see young boys buying cigarettes but could see that there was more to this, so I started confronting these dealers and users and they hated me for it because I would see and ask why they leave these drugs at a certain spot for these children.
“We as parents who see these drugs being sold at spazas in our own yards and streets, keep quiet because of the rent money they receive,” she says.
Though Mabaso’s life has been threatened numerous times for fighting drugs, she has not let this deter her and says she believes as communities they can only win this fight if they work together.
“Sometimes our police don’t help us much because we see someone being arrested for drugs, but a few days later we see them out on the streets, hence I ended up writing a letter to the police commissioner, complaining about the police and that they don’t work, but did not receive a response, I wrote to President Jacob Zuma’s office asking them to come and see what’s happening here but still received no response.
“Then I went to MEC Faith Mazibuko’s office and found representatives from there and they welcomed me and offered to help me, hence we have been able to work with this committee,” she says.
