Cops fighting hard to win war on drugs
In some townships, dealers are known to recruit both male and female learners to be “couriers”.
Member of the SAPS in Kathorus have linked the rapid increase in young drug addicts to the flooding of townships with drugs aimed at teenagers, many of them still at school.
According to the police, the saturation of townships with an assortment of drugs has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of teenagers falling prey to drugs and dropping out of school.
The police are also convinced that the large assortment of drugs currently being made available on the streets of Kathorus are not from local drug dealers but are ferried into the townships from areas such as Hillbrow, Yeoville, Rosettenville and Turfontein by drug-dealers who wish to expand their turf.
A former Thokoza nyaope addict and ex drug-dealer who is currently undergoing treatment at the Palm Ridge Sanca Drug Rehab Centre, confirmed that large quantities of cocaine and Mandrax – two of the commonly used drugs in the making of nyaope – are in fact brought into Kathorus from areas outside Kathorus.
The former addict and dealer confirmed that potent drugs like cocaine, Mandrax, “crack” as well as a variety of other drugs sold to addicts, are ferried by couriers from other parts around Joburg.
“Drugs are kept in different places around the township’s drug laboratories owned by dealers around Gauteng,” explained a recovering former drug addict and dealer who asked not to be named citing that he has turned his back on drugs and his only desire out of life now is to educate the youth about the dangers of drugs.
The former drug dealer and addict pointed to the rise in the numbers of new nyaope addicts as an indication of the seriousness of the impact of the drug on the youth in the townships.
Although he confirmed that the drug is aimed particularly at young people he added that it does not mean that older people are not targets.
And while the police arrest scores of “drug” users during anti-crime stop-and-search operations in the townships, Captain Mega Ndobe, the spokesperson for the Kathorus SAPS, told Kathorus MAIL that it was often the parents and of these young drug abusers who opt to pay the fine or bail them out.
“Yet these are the same parents and families of these young addicts who accuse us, the police, of abusing their children” Ndobe explained.
This, Ndobe said, this makes drug policing a problem, especially when the quantities of drugs that most addicts are often found in possession of by the police falls short of the legally stipulated amount that would warrant the courts to pass the prison term of between 25 for dealing and 15 years for possession.
The declaration by the Department of Justice Constitutional Development (DJCD) in 2015, that nyoape be declared a drug, was aimed at criminalising the drug as well as those who use it.
The DJCD also called for the amended Drug and Drug Trafficking Act of 1922 (Act 140 of 1992), which states that anyone found dealing in the drug could face a prison term of approximately 25 years, while anyone found in possession of the drug could face 15 years in prison.
Catching the “big fishes” is not easy for the police since the drug culture seems to run deep into some communities.
“People are either too scared to speak out or they simply just don’t care anymore because many of them believe law enforcement against drugs has become ineffective,” explained community worker and drug activist, Phindi Qongo, who operates an NPO called Save The Youth Of South Africa.
According to Qongo, drugs are available in every township and once in the townships, the drugs are distributed to different outlets, including hostels, newspaper vendors, food kiosk, schools, and spaza shops.
In some townships, dealers are known to recruit both male and female learners to be “couriers”.
And according to Capt Ndobe, despite the hundreds of small amounts of drugs police find on users, the fight against drugs continues to pose a serious problem as the big-players in the illicit game remain undetected.
“Even when we catch dozens of young men and women a single nyaope joint in their pocket, our failure to catch the “big-fish” and several of his peddlers who are stationed at different places around the township, makes a whole lot of difference to us,” explained Ndobe.
Ndobe said high schools are the main targets for drug dealers and their foot-soldier peddlers, who are sometimes fellow students who are used to lure their unsuspecting colleagues and peers hooked on drugs.
In some cases, teachers are also easily lured into the snares of becoming peddlers, selling the drugs to learners.
According to Capt Ndobe, the police in Kathorus are busy with plans to stop the inflow of drugs into the townships. He said the police were also aware of where these drugs were being ferried from.
“We are working on closing that loophole, too, very soon,” Ndobe promised.
Meanwhile, the lives of hundreds of young girls and boys, most of them still learners at different high schools around Kathorus, are potential targets for drug dealers who are always looking for new markets for their illicit products.
