Local Drug Action Campaign closes Women’s Month
WINDSOR EAST – Local Drug Action Campaign supplied street vendors with support and knowledge on how to sell their goods within the bylaws.
Local Drug Action Campaign (LDAC) closed off its Women’s Month programme on 29 August at the Windsor East Recreation Centre. LDAC in partnership with Ambassadors 4 Change, JMPD, Break the Shame and Linden Police hosted various campaigns in their bid to eradicate drugs in the community by assisting women who eke out a living from selling food on the streets of Windsor East.
Thule Mdleleni from LDAC said drug use often arises out of the user’s life situation and that if the small daily challenges that many women faced could be dealt with early, they may avoid using drugs as an escape from their problems. As a proactive measure, this initiative focused on helping female hawkers.
“We want to help these hawkers by equipping them with the necessary knowledge to obtain a trader’s licence from the City in order for the hawkers to sell their food in the best way,” she said.
Mdleleni added that there was a high unemployment rate in Windsor East and there were residents who were either hawkers or sold food from their homes, and LDAC wants to assist them to sell their goods within the bylaws as JMPD, tasked with enforcing the rules, sometimes meant removing the hawkers from the street.
She pointed out that this does not always solve the problem as the hawkers need money to survive and often just return to the streets again. Wendy Mabuto, a hawker from Windsor East, said that she felt more informed and now she would be able to go and obtain a trader’s licence as she was always running away from the JMPD
“I wish that during the LDAC women’s month programme they had given us more information on how to open up a business and a business account,” she said. However, Mabuto commended LDAC for a job well done and pointed out that she often saw members from LDAC out and about in her community.
Well-known sports commentator Baba Mthetwa addressed the audience and invited young women from Windsor East to join his Sports and Broadcast Project which is aimed at empowering and creating opportunities for young women in sports broadcasting.
He said that anyone who is interested in joining their project is welcome to get in touch with them via their Twitter or Facebook page:
