POLOKWANE -An urgent need to combat drug abuse in the city took centre stage at the previous quarter’s community safety forum meeting, among a range of other forms of crime hitting the city hard.
On April 4, safety representatives from all local municipalities of the Capricorn district met at the new council chambers, along with community policing forums and the police, to discuss the state of safety and security in the city.
In Polokwane, regular patrols find that school-going children have access to drugs in abundance, local crime intelligence member, Mabotse Mothiba, told Polokwane Observer.
“Our city is ridden with people who prefer to live on the street so they can indulge freely. It is not that they don’t have a loving home, it is sheer desperation that results in addicts destroy municipal infrastructure to sell for cash. This in turn affects development and the progress aimed for in terms of the city’s growth.”
During intelligence operations where addicts are targeted, actual drugs are seldom found in their possession, making it hard to effect warrants of arrest, she remarked. “Unless you find them highly intoxicated, drug users are streetsmart and so we hardly find anyone carrying quantities of drugs on them.”
Efforts to remove users for rehabilitation yields little results, according to Mothiba, as the city only has one treatment centre.
“There is thus not sufficient space for them to be rehabilitated. As a result, we take them to their homes but they return to the streets to continue the drug abuse. It’s a terrible cycle.”
Members of the forums have been tasked to identify solutions to the crisis ahead of the next meeting in May.
The need to increase the number of state-owned rehabilitation centres through infrastructure repurposing, was also suggested by some present in the meeting.
Street-living, especially in areas of the CBD such as the Indian Centre and in Church street has sparked concern among residents.
During a draft IDP meeting with the municipality last Thursday, a representative of ward 39, Meisie Thulare requested that a permanent solution be found for the growing problem.
In the same meeting, Polokwane Mayor John Mpe said drug use harbours theft of municipal property including cable theft, as witnessed in Westenburg, Seshego, the CBD and Ladanna.
