Kabokweni youth getting drunk on ‘jelly babies’

KABOKWENI – A new trend of learners intoxicating themselves with “vodka jelly babies” is making waves in this township.

This comes just a week after the MEC for education, Ms Reginah Mhaule voiced concern about pupils who are allegedly using nyaope on the premises of Barberton Secondary School.

Recently a grade 12 learner from Ngodini Secondary School left her mother in shock after she came home dizzy and vomiting non-stop. The child soon spilled the beans and told her mother that she had had certain “special” sweets, or vodka jelly babies as they referred to it.

Read: Drugs at Schools uncovered

Speaking to Mpumalanga News the girl said, “We pour the vodka into a bowl, then the sweets and we place it in the fridge at one of my friends’ place since she is used to be alone as her parents work in the CBD. I think I overate the sweets, and that is why I felt powerless because we used to eat it even at school without getting caught as our classmates don’t suspect anything. They thought it was normal sweets and we didn’t behave strangely.”

This new trend also raised a serious concern with some parents as they said they fear that their children will become drug addicts or alcoholics. One of the concerned parents, Ms Lucia Maphalala said, “We used to hear that there are pupils who are smuggling or selling dagga in schools, but this new trend is going to destroy the future of our children. We need God’s intervention because the police do raids at schools, but it seems like they are fighting a losing battle because drug abuse is a serious problem in various schools, especially in townships.”

• Crime at schools alarms parents

Early in January local police launched an investigation at various high schools in this area after it was alleged that there were Nigerian drug dealers who used pupils to sell at school premises. Some of the illegal items that were discovered by police during raids in township schools were dangerous weapons such as knives as well as dagga.