Sabie, under Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, was graced by the presence of department representatives, led by MEC, Ms Nomsa Mtshweni.

Developing lives, communities, and identities without drugs, was dubbed this year’s theme in the department’s quest of fighting this pandemic.

“We acknowledge that peer pressure and the desire to experiment on drugs are emerging as the number one contributing factors, leading the youth to abuse substances.We, therefore, take this day to join the world in commemorating this day, and standing together in the fight to reduce the negative impact of substance abuse in communities,” said Mtshweni.

The whole house agreed in one united voice that the problem needed to be addressed from its roots. “Instead of building more treatment
centres our prime wish is to strengthen prevention measures and eliminate the need for such centres,” concluded Mtshweni.