Pretoria – The multi-pronged approach being used in the fight against drugs and gang violence in the community of Eldorado Park is yielding positive results, says Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
In a Parliamentary reply to the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, the minister announced that 1431 drug lords have been arrested since the intervention there. Of this total, 1098 are awaiting trial, 1095 received bail, three are still in custody and 289 have been convicted on criminal charges.
He said a worrying factor was that 63 of those who have been arrested were children, whose ages are between 14 and 17 years old.
“The distribution and sale of drugs are a major contributory factors to gang violence which inevitably would affect and compromise the security and safety of innocent community members.
“That is why when some leaders were calling for the deployment of soldiers in these violence torn communities, we emphasized the point that the issues of drug trafficking and gang violence, require more than just policing. They require the multi-agency interventions so that whilst policing operations continue, the socio-economic challenges are also given the necessary attention,” said Mthethwa.
In March this year, President Jacob Zuma accompanied by various Cabinet Ministers, the Premier of Gauteng, MECs and other senior government officials visited Eldorado Park, which has an estimated population of 200 000.
The community had written a letter to the President requesting his personal intervention to address the growing drug problem. He responded by tasking the government delegation, both at national and provincial levels to begin to work together in addressing these challenges.
As part of an intervention by South African Police Service, a team of experienced detectives was appointed to intervene and deal with drug related cases.
Their mandate included the investigation of some of the cases which were previously withdrawn at court. Such cases are currently being analysed and discussed with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for re-assessment. These detectives are not only drawn from Eldorado Park police station but some come from different clusters within the Gauteng province.
“The President alluded to the fact that different spheres of government needed to work in a coordinated approach. The progress we are witnessing in Eldorado Park is a good example of how best to address this challenge.
“Crime prevention therefore requires that interdepartmental cooperation extend beyond the criminal justice system to include, where necessary, departments responsible for local government, education and social services,” said the minister.
He said although Eldorado Park was showing signs of stability and normalisation, police operations were continuing, assisted by the community.
“In order to maintain stability of Eldorado Park and many other communities in South Africa we will sustain this multi-agency approach. We reiterate our clarion call that all of us; as government, civil society, faith-based organisations, business, non-governmental organisations; let us together all hold hands and deal a decisive blow to the scourge of drugs,” said Mthethwa. – SAnews.gov.za
