There was a 5.1% increase in drug-related crimes in KZN in the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year, compared to last year.
This is according to the crime stats released by the police recently.
According to the stats, from April 2022 to June 2022, there were 5 242 cases reported and from April 2023 to June 2023 there were 5 511 cases reported.
KZN MEC for Social Development Nonhlanhla Khoza said the root of social ills was the growing, disturbing culture of alcohol and substance abuse.
Khoza was speaking at an Operation Sukuma Sakhe event in St Faiths where she condemned the use of drugs, saying they were causing serious destruction to the social moral fibre.
“Addictions lead to crimes, unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. People give birth to children who don’t know their fathers and in turn end up posing challenges to societies they grow up in,’ said Khoza
She also called on societies to fight the abuse of women and children with all their might.
“If you keep quiet about such injustices, you are no different from an abuser. Let us root out all abusers from our societies. They must be ostracised from villages and be reported to the police. Gender-based violence (GBV) and abuse of women and children in general have no place in modern society. The time to put an end to it is here and now and it’s communities that hold the power to fight the scourge,” said Khoza.
She encouraged women to skill themselves so that they wouldn’t have to rely solely on their partners for support.
“The number of abused women remains unacceptably high. One of the reasons why it’s not easy to fight GBV is lack of skills among women. They end up staying in abusive relationships because men support them financially and sometimes end up killing them. We have programmes to equip women with skills to ensure that they are able to support themselves and are vocal about issues of GBV. Communities must also stand up against abusers of women and children. Once someone has been abused it’s no longer a private matter, but a societal one,” she said.
She added that Operation Sigalelekile is an interventionist programme coined by her and adopted by the provincial executive, with the aim of bringing a basket of services to communities from different government departments, including municipalities.
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