Programme Director and MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Mr P Mabilo
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Ms Yolanda Botha
MEC for Social Development, Mr Alvin Botes
MECs and Members of the Provincial Legislature here present
Deputy Chairperson of the Central Drug Authority, Dr David Bayever
Local councilors and leaders of Rosedale community
Ladies and gentlemen
Goeie dag!
Thank you very much, MEC Botes for those kind words of introduction. Let me echo what I think many parents here in the Northern Cape and across our country are feeling today: today is a great day for our families and communities. And it is my pleasure to be here with my colleagues and comrades to launch the Northern Cape anti-substance abuse campaign.
As MEC Botes has said, our government under the leadership of the African National Congress is very concerned about the damage and pain drugs cause families and we take this issue very seriously. And that is why our new national campaign places particular emphasis on educating South Africans, especially young people and their parents, about the negative effects – health and otherwise – of illicit drugs.
The 52nd ANC National Conference of 2007 identified drugs and substance abuse as a priority as the scourge has the potential to seriously undermine our development and social cohesion efforts. It is usually in the most vulnerable and in the poorest communities where one finds higher levels of alcohol and drug abuse. This reduces our success rate in extricating the affected individuals and communities from poverty and destitution. That is why we locate the combating of substance abuse firmly within our government’s crime and the war on poverty programmes.
The launch today of this community mobilisation and mass media campaign is an important step by our government in addressing the serious impacts of illicit drug use among in our society. As part of this campaign, we conducted door to door visits to raise awareness about the dangers of substance and alcohol abuse. The visit forms part of our planned activities for the national campaign and as build up activities to the provincial summit in all provinces. The data from the door to door visits will inform the discussion of the provincial summit and will be tabled for discussion at the forthcoming 2nd Biennial Substance Abuse Summit that will be held in Durban.
The launch of this campaign provides an opportunity to renew our government’s commitment to taking action against illicit drugs and the harms they cause to individuals, families and communities. Through this campaign under the theme: “No place for drugs in my community”, we call on South Africans to action, to work both individually and collectively to eliminate illicit drug production, use and trafficking in our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, our government is committed to do all that is possible to implement the National Drug Master Plan (2006-2011), and I am pleased today to see the launch of this campaign. The Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act places more emphasis on prevention as it proved to be a more cost effective level of intervention. It is crucial to use this campaign to shut down the road to destruction that our young people are embarking upon with the scourge of crime, drugs and alcohol abuse.
Our youth, as leaders of the future, must do everything to assist our government in building social cohesion and leading the Moral Regeneration campaign. This will see them lead our struggle for the birth of a new progressive and revolutionary youth that has respect for self and is patriotic towards this country. We want our youth to be conscious and progressive, and propel this country to prosperity. We want them to pursue healthy lifestyles, including safe sex to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and to lead drug-free lifestyle.
As a parent, I would like to urge the youth of Northern Cape and others throughout the country to never allow themselves to be used as tools of violence and destruction by the drug lords and criminal elements. Our young people must never allow themselves to be used as criminal elements in the commitment of crimes against other young people such as drug peddling and trafficking. Drugs affect the freedom and development of young people, our country’s most valuable asset. Together, we can help our young people make healthy choices. We will encourage them to stay alert, to stay engaged, and to take full advantage of every opportunity that the democratic South Africa has to offer them.
As we know, social conditions play a critical role in vulnerability of our youth towards drugs. Rapid urbanisation and the modern way of life have diluted traditional social controls within the community and the family. This has made our youngsters more vulnerable to drugs and other illegal activities. The response to this challenge must come from within the family and community, and that is what we aim to achieve with this campaign.
I am glad to notice that NGOs are coming up with various programmes to generate awareness and make interventions against drug use. Linkages with such NGOs, community based institutions and government agencies should be strengthened for increasing the effectiveness of the fight against drugs. While cure is important, prevention remains the key. We therefore have to strengthen implementation of initiatives such as Ke moja-I am fine without drugs and devise effective communication strategies to sensitize the youth to the dangers of drug use through the schools, universities, faith based organisations and other platforms.
We also need to send out a clear and strong message to the drug lords that we cannot allow them to operate their illegal businesses in our communities. We must work together with law enforcement officers through the local drug action committees to really ensure that drugs have no place in our communities. At the community level, we must work with the Local Drug Action Committees and Community Policing Forums to help the South African Police Service (SAPS) deal with criminals benefiting from substance abuse in our society. The government of the African National Congress was elected to build a strong, safer, better South Africa. We said we would work together will all sectors of our society to make our streets safer and protect our youth from a life of drugs and crime, and we remain committed to that goal.
We will therefore strengthen cooperation with law enforcement agencies and community based organisations to curb the demand and supply of illegal drugs. Departments such as Education, Health, Sports and Recreation, Arts and Culture, provincial and local government, the National Youth Development Agency and others will play a critical role and must collaborate in the provision of prevention, early intervention, treatment and re-integration services and programmes. We need to take these services to our communities in all provinces so that they are within reach and accessible to all.
Ladies and gentlemen, alcohol use and abuse during pregnancy is another concern that we seek to address, particularly here in Rosedale and many other communities throughout the country. Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause a range of lifelong disabilities for children. It is estimated that 10-25% of children in institutions for the intellectually disabled have a primary diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This has many health, social, and economic costs, for the individual, their families, health and social service systems and communities.
According to the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research, Upington has the highest levels of prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in this province. As you all know, FASD is 100 percent preventable. The safest decision a woman can make is to completely avoid all kinds of alcohol including beer, wine, and hard liquor during her pregnancy. We must send out a clear and unambiguous message to all women: no amount of alcohol is safe during pregancy. Through this campaign, we are working to prevent this problem by creating public awareness and providing support and treatment to those already affected.
We will therefore work closely with the Department of Health to ensure screening and early diagnosis of children exposed to alcohol prenatally for referral and early intervention. Central to this intervention is the need to improve access to diagnosis for rural and isolated remote communities.
I would like to end by challenging each one of you to take action today – the theme of this campaign is: “No place for drugs in my community”. Each one of us has the responsibility to report drug-related crimes in our communities. We must cooperate as communities, government, business and civil society to support all efforts aimed at eliminating the availability of alcohol and drugs in our communities mostly among young persons, prevent drug trafficking in communities and reduce the social desirability of substance use among young persons.
I therefore encourage all of you to support the campaign we are launching today.
Baie dankie.
