Ward-22 ANCYL launches fight against drugs
Thabisile Mbatha, a resident in the area, said that while she did not believe the abuse of drugs was solely responsible for gender-based violence (GBV) and crime, it did have an impact.
Activists from African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) gathered in Pimville on Saturday morning and embarked on a peaceful anti-drug march through the Soweto Township.
The march was aimed at raising awareness and highlighting an issue, which ANCYL ward-22 Secretary, Lucky Mongwe said, is “ravaging” Pimville.
“There was a plea from the community saying: ‘we are losing young people to drugs.’ As the leaders of the youth in this ward, we decided as the ANCYL to demonstrate and raise awareness. We are very much aware and concerned about the problem of drug abuse in our community. This march was just the first step and we are going to continue our fight against drugs here,” he said.
Mongwe also revealed that while planning the march, he and his team had received death threats from anonymous callers. This he said, was how deep the problem was.
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Thabisile Mbatha, a resident in the area, said that while she did not believe the abuse of drugs was solely responsible for gender-based violence (GBV) and crime, it did have an impact.
“I am not saying drugs lead to GBV, many commit these crimes fully sober. But I think they are certainly related. Our kids get high on drugs and begin doing all these vile things. I think if we can win the fight against drugs, then the others (GBV and crime) would slightly decrease as well,” said Mbatha.
On communication with the police, ANCYL member, Machabe Mofokeng revealed that a list of hotspots, compiled with the community members had been handed over to police. These spots are suspected to be the drug dealers’ hideouts.
“We have been in communication with the community, and were able to create a list of spots the community believes are their (drug dealers) hideouts. We have also been in communication with the police and have asked for them to investigate these places. Most importantly- we are calling on the community to be more vocal in terms of reporting crime, people know what is happening to our community but they do not speak,” Mofokeng said.
Kliptown Police could not be available for comment at the time of going to print.
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