Call for parents to help fight drugs and stop the youth from living lives of crime
The Ponelo Pelo project offers counselling and is working with social workers to refer addicts to rehab centres for professional help.
A Mamelodi resident has called upon all parents to help in the fight against crime and drug abuse.
The call comes as Sheriff Masuku, founder of the Ponelo Pele project, conducted a crime and drug awareness campaign over the weekend at the Nellmapius ext. 22 sports field.
Masuku said the awareness campaign aimed to introduce the community and parents to the project and get them involved in the fight against drugs.
He said the campaign was attended by different law enforcement agencies, the departments of health and education, social workers, Mamelodi East police, wardens and the community at large.
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Masuku said the project started last year and has helped 59 youths go to rehabilitation centres.
This year they have helped 29 youths.
He said the project aims to help drug addicts from the age of 12 upwards and keep them busy and away from the streets with sports activities.
Masuku said he started Ponele Pele after one of the parents at Thuto Bohlale secondary school in Nellmapius Extension 8 approached him about the issues of drugs and of carrying dangerous weapons on school premises.
Masuku, being a parent at the school, gladly accepted and has made it a point to wake up early in the morning every day to make sure that learners are safe from crime and drugs.
He said the idea of stopping and searching learners at school started when he saw what was happening in the community of Nellmapius, the issue of drugs at the school, unruly students and bullying.
He has dedicated himself to making sure that every day around 07:00 before school starts, he stands at the school and searches all schoolboys before they enter the school premises.
Masuku volunteers at the local schools for free and decided to start a stop-and-search safety programme to look for dangerous weapons and drugs.
“The well-being of schoolchildren comes first, and it is up to us as parents to make sure that the children are safe at all times,” said Masuku.
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Masuku recalls everything he learned from learners when he first started with the safety programme.
He also said that so far, they have 12 members helping with getting the children off the streets.
The project also conducts counselling sessions before referrals to understand why these children are doing drugs and crime.
“But today I am pleased that the learners have since come clean and no longer carry dangerous weapons and drugs,” he said.
Masuku said after searching learners in the morning, he patrols the school premises, checking the toilets to make sure no one is in the toilets during school hours.
“After school, we meet with the schoolboys and girls to discuss social issues and bullying and come up with programmes that will keep the learners busy and away from crime and drugs,” he said.
Anti-drug abuse ambassador Thuso Ramohlale spoke to the public and the youth about addiction and other risky behaviours and encouraged them to love themselves enough to never do drugs and help addicted friends.
He said they are working with social workers to refer addicts to rehab centres for professional help.
Ramohlale explained the different types of drugs and how addicts behaved.
“There are many ways that can lead to drug and substance abuse. Peer pressure, a fancy lifestyle, cigarettes and hubbly bubbly,” he said.
Masuku also pleaded with government departments to help him realise his dream of building a drop-in centre for addicts.
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