Evidence wa ka Ngobeni While the police have chalked up several important victories against the drug industry in recent months, they admit they are yet to make significant progress in stemming the proliferation of drugs in schools. Since February this year law enforcement agencies have been targeting various drug transit points and have seized more than R2- billion worth of drugs. In one recent drug bust at Johannesburg International airport, the South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab), the police’s drug unit, seized more than 3kg of cocaine with a street value of R1,5-million. But Superintendent Martin Aylward, a Sanab representative, says that “no significant successes have to date been achieved at schools”.
Aylward says, however, that police have embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at fighting drug trafficking in schools. One initiative is a high school educational project in the Western Cape. Western Cape police representative Esther Kotze says the police are “giving lectures at schools to educate the pupils in drugs and to warn them of the effects and what to look for”.
Kotze also says the police have produced an educational video called Choices, which provides students with information on how to prevent drug abuse. This video, she says, is aimed at the Western Cape’s “problem” schools. More than 1E000 schools in the Western Cape alone have been affected by drug trafficking. According to Aylward, Sanab can only raid a school for drugs on request by the school’s governing body. “This matter is very sensitive as police do not want to harass innocent persons. It must be emphasised that these searches are only conducted on request of a school governing body and when specific complaints are lodged,” he says. Kotze says fighting drug trafficking in Western Cape schools has proved to be “very expensive”. She says the police use undercover members to crack down on drug lords and pushers. These officers, Kotze says, “must use money from the state to buy these drugs. The members must also make use of vehicles and must dress according to what the latest fashions on the streets are, and they make use of specialised surveillance equipment.” The most popular drugs found during raids on Western Cape schools include speed, LSD, dagga, ecstasy, heroin, cocaine and Mandrax.