Drug abuse and illicit trafficking are among the biggest social, political, economic and security challenges facing the world in the 21st century, said Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya on Thursday.
Skweyiya was addressing the Ke Moja anti-drug abuse campaign launch at the Cape Town city hall in the Western Cape. The launch coincided with International Day against Drug Abuse and was attended by hundreds of school children, members of the executive committees, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, Central Drug Authority chairperson Frank Kahn as well as Rob Boone of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime.
”South Africa with its porous borders and developed transport and telecommunications infrastructure is being increasingly used by syndicates as a gateway for illicit trafficking to Asia, the Americas as well as the African continent,” said Skweyiya.
He said the situation was worsened by the fact that drug trafficking was linked to other crimes such as car hijackings, robberies and smuggling of firearms and stolen vehicles.
Saying that the scourge of drugs was penetrating schools in a frightening manner, Skweyiya said: ”What is even more frightening is that 79,3% of coloureds, 57% of Indians, 40% of whites and 37% of blacks confirmed in a Pretoria school survey that they knew of a friend or classmate who has been using illegal drugs. It is decimating our children and youth.”
He said the Ke Moja awareness campaign — which means No thanks, I’m fine [without drugs] in urban vernacular — would focus on the 10-to-18 age group. Its objectives were to educate youth about substance abuse, to effect changes in behaviour away from risk, and to change drug use attitudes from negative to positive.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said drug addiction was ”an enemy and the youth needed to be at the vanguard of the struggle” against it.
He appealed to the youth present to lead clean lives, because only if they did this, could they become ”building blocks” for the country.
Khan stressed that policing alone could not fight the drug problem, and what was needed was for ”policing to go with demand reduction”.
”In the past many people never got the message, but now the messages will be given in the correct language and context of various communities,” he said, adding that Ke Moja was a blueprint for a national programme.
Kahn also took a swipe at the decriminalisation lobby, saying these people were ”irresponsible and were undermining efforts”.
Boone said South Africa had become the regional hub for illicit drug use, especially for hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.
”We hope to be able to use this South African initiative as an example for the region about how an effective, community-based campaign can be developed for Africa, by Africans with the support of their international partners, to respond to an African situation.” – Sapa