Pretoria - Cabinet has approved the National Drug Master Plan and its implementation over the next five years.
The Plan (2013-2017) serves as the country’s blueprint for preventing and reducing alcohol and substance abuse, and its associated social and economic consequences on South African society.
President Jacob Zuma, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and various other officials recently intervened in the community of Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg, where a concerned mother, Dereleen James, wrote an impassioned letter to Zuma, pleading for help with the rampant drug abuse problem in their area.
The country also marked the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June in Kimberly, Northern Cape.
In a statement issued after a recent Cabinet meeting, the executive said the importance of the day was to put the country’s collective attention squarely on the problem of drugs, crime moral degeneration, domestic violence and teenage pregnancy.
In Gauteng, Lead SA, together with the provincial government, launched Drug Watch at Sophiatown Police Station, outside Johannesburg.
Head of Crime Line and Lead SA activist, Yusuf Abramjee, said South Africans had to “fight the drug scourge with all the vigour and energy” at their disposal.
He said Drug Watch aimed to “squeeze the space” in which drug dealers are able to operate and to enable communities to deal with the problem.
“As a Lead SA and Crime Line initiative, Drug Watch aims to highlight and strengthen the efforts of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department and Community Policing Forums in clamping down on the trade of drugs,” he said.
President Jacob Zuma also extended his support to the initiative. In a letter of endorsement, the President said: “It is clear that working together, we are poised to intensify the war on drugs and succeed.
“We have to target the drug manufacturers and dealers. We also have to start the healing process in communities who have been torn apart as a result of the drug scourge.”
Police have arrested 1 823 suspects for drug-related crimes since operations started over a week ago. - SAnews.gov.za
