Johannesburg - ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has led a community march against drug abuse and related crimes in Soweto.
Mashaba was in the company of provincial leaders as well as community leaders and civil society groups such as Soweto Parliament, Soweto Speaks, and Intoyethu Movement.
According to provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni, the march comes after members of the party have been receiving a series of complaints from community members that the SAPS in the area is not responsive to the complaints about the increase in drug-related crimes. Some community members also accused the police of shielding criminals, including drug peddlers, in the area.
It is reported that one activist was arrested by the Jabulani police when she tried to alert them to a neighbour who was selling drugs to young people.
The march, which began at the Zola Sports Centre, moved to Jabulani police station where Mashaba and members of his party and community leaders handed over a memorandum of demands to the station commander Brigadier Lebeko and his team.
Mashaba said the people of Soweto deserved better policing and pleaded with the leaders of the Zola police station to help the community fight the scourge of drugs in Soweto.
“All we want is to deliver this memorandum to you station commander. We want the police to work with the community to help put an end to the scourge of drugs in the are,a and want the police to collaborate and help the community in this regard,” Mashaba said.
Speaking to The Star before the march, Soweto Parliament leader Thabang Moloi said he had been directly affected by the drug scourge as a parent.
“I am a direct victim of drug abuse – my two sons, who are twins, smoked drugs. I saw the future of my children deteriorating right before my eyes. So I am directly affected by drugs. My children turned blue in front of me. I tried praying and praying for my twins, who I had sent to school to get an education but returned as drug addicts. The issue of foreigners is a big issue as they bring drugs into our neighbourhoods,” Moloi said.
“Our country is destroyed right before our very own eyes because we have elected criminals as leaders. We are in serious trouble because of these selfish leaders who are allowing drugs into our neighbourhoods,” he said.
Busisiwe Nkosi is yet another parent who lost her son to drugs. She told her story of how her son hanged himself after secretly experimenting with drugs.
“I lost my son Siyabonga to drugs after he went to smoke drugs and hanged himself. When I tried to look for help it was too late as we found him hanging. Ma Zodwa tried to help and took him to rehab, but eventually he died. He was such a good boy and we did not suspect anything until that day,” Nkosi said.
Mashaba said the country needed new leaders who would put the interests of the country first, adding that he had been labelled xenophobic when addressing the issue of porous borders and illegal immigrants in the past.
“I am an angry and gatvol South African. I have been labelled xenophobic. We can't live like this. Drugs are destroying not only the youth, but our families. Today I live in a country where 70% of our people are unemployed. Our children are not given an education, but drugs. It is these open borders that contribute to this. We have nowhere else to run to. We have to save this country and we can’t save the country by burning infrastructure, but rather by removing this cruel government,” Mashaba said.
The Star