The Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini expressed her sympathy and condolences with the families of the ten youth who were killed on New Year’s Eve following an alleged stampede at a tavern in Ipelegeng township outside Schweizer-Reneke in North West province.
“As Minister of Social Development, I was deeply saddened to learn of the incident which resulted in the tragic loss of life over the weekend. In particular, I was pained by the tragic loss of life of ten young people and I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved families at the loss of such young and promising lives”, said Minister Dlamini.
The Minister also called on communities to work together with government to curb the growing problem of alcohol and substance abuse among young people. Minister Dlamini is the convener of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Substance Abuse that was established by Cabinet in 2010. The primary function of this Committee is to coordinate, support and strengthen existing measures to combat substance abuse in South Africa.
“There is no question that the abuse of alcohol in South Africa is a serious national concern. This is why we are firmly determined to prevent our people, especially the youth from experimenting with alcohol and drugs. I therefore want to appeal to all South Africans to do something about the problem of alcohol and drug abuse problem in our country because alcohol and drug abuse has far-reaching negative social and economic consequences for the youth of our country. It blights and destroys their lives and future. We therefore need to work together as a collective to reduce the harm associated with alcohol abuse in our communities.
I call on individuals, families, communities and society as a whole to get involved in this campaign. We all need to make sure that we talk about this problem and its dangers in our families and communities. We have spoken several times about the need to intensify tougher enforcement of the law on liquor regulations to stem the tide against the overwhelmingly easy accessibility of alcohol to ensure that such horror incidents do not happen again. In this regard, I am pleased that our government is working with partners like the Soul City Institute through the Phuza Wize campaign to educate our people about the dangers of alcohol. I believe that together we can curb alcohol-related problems through more effective education and greater community involvement’, said Minister Dlamini.
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