Speech delivered by the Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille during the Western Cape Appropriation Bill 2nd Reading Debate, March 19 2010

Drug and alcohol abuse is the enemy of opportunity

Speaker, the budget that Minister Winde has presented shows where the emphasis will be as we set about building an open, opportunity society for all in the Western Cape.  This is our best chance of sustainably addressing persistent poverty and unemployment.

In doing so the state has three core functions:  to protect people's rights and freedoms, to expand their opportunities, and to do those things for them that they cannot be expected to do for themselves.

That is the role of the state envisaged in our constitution.

Education is the key to expanding opportunities. A child with a decent education, no matter their circumstances, has a real chance in life.  Education is the best affirmative action there is.  It is the only way to prevent affirmative action from degenerating into cronyism and corruption, which simply aggravates mass poverty.

In doing for people what they cannot be expected to do for themselves we must build the best possible public health system. If people are sick and cannot afford private medical care, then the state should provide it.

This is why more than 70% of the R33-billion provincial budget goes to education and health. They are integral to building an open, opportunity society.

If the role of the state is to expand people's opportunities and do for them what they cannot be expected to do for themselves, what is the role of the individual? 

No society can develop unless people understand that they need to take personal responsibility for their lives. They must realize that their actions have consequences for themselves, their community and the broader society, and they must take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.  Citizens in a sustainable democracy understand that they are not merely victims of circumstance, but active agents who can change their lives if they take responsibility, and if the state fulfills its functions.

The reality, Speaker, is that this notion of personal responsibility is scarcely in evidence in our country. I understand that socio-economic circumstances often create consequences that are not a matter of personal choice.  An example is the tragedy of young girls becoming pregnant as soon as they are biologically capable of doing so. Few things destroy opportunity, entrench the cycle of poverty, and create a greater dependency trap than early pregnancy.  It is the single greatest oppressor of women.  And we have to take collective responsibility for turning this around.

You would think in an era where the state has poured so many resources into educating people on the risks of HIV/AIDS that people would not have unprotected sex with multiple partners.  But they continue to do so, from the President down.  This illustrates the absence of a sense of personal responsibility, and unless we drive this message home, and change behaviour, our democracy cannot succeed. 

When it comes to drug and alcohol abuse, the picture is even bleaker. At least HIV/AIDS can be managed with anti-retrovirals, which the state provides more comprehensively here than in any other province.  But it is far harder to treat addiction, and substance abusers ravage their families and their communities.  And they do insane criminal things, like raping children.

That is why I have made substance abuse a priority programme of my office.  Substance abuse destroys a person's capacity to take responsibility.  Indeed, substance abuse is usually about escaping responsibility.

We must honestly confront the opportunity cost of spending increasing percentages of the State's budget on the consequences of behavior that we could reasonably have expected informed people to avoid. 

This happens, of course, in every country, not just South Africa.  It is the scale of our problem that is mind-boggling.

Alcohol abuse is the leading lifestyle contributor to the burden of disease in our province - killing 300 people per month, most of whom are below the age of 40.

In the Western Cape, it costs the state around R6 billion every year to deal with alcohol abuse and related social ills such as road accidents, domestic violence, the spread of HIV, sexual abuse and foetal alcohol syndrome, amongst others.

This is the equivalent of one-fifth of our total provincial budget.

The Western Cape also has one of the world's highest prevalence of drug abuse disorders.  Two out of every five schools in the province report the presences of drug merchants and peddling.  And drugs are available even in those schools where the merchants aren't visibly present.

We need to fight the scourge with all we've got. 

As you know, Speaker, this government is currently in the process of enacting an amendment bill that will allow us to implement and enforce the closure of illegal shebeens in residential areas. 

It will have some unintended consequences, which is why we are working on transition strategies, but we cannot continue having so many shebeens which are the focal points of the addiction and violence that are destroying the fabric of communities.

We have also, in partnership with the City, initiated the Safely Home campaign which includes a sustained focus on detecting, prosecuting and convicting people who drink and drive. We are taking this very seriously indeed, and so should people who drink before they get behind the wheel.

We are planning a strategy of "naming and shaming" people convicted of drinking and driving. We have come to the conclusion that this is yet another way of making people think carefully before they drink and
drive.

To counteract drug and alcohol abuse in schools, we will soon be instituting a system of random drug testing in schools. We will start with those schools that have shown the most precipitous decline in performance - which we believe might be linked to drug abuse.

Learners with substance abuse problems will be put on to a treatment and recovery programme. They will also be asked to give evidence to the police on the drug supply chain in their schools so that we can break these syndicates. Any teachers found to be involved in illegal drug-dealing will be arrested and charged.

Speaker, the plight of people suffering from foetal alcohol syndrome or FAS has never been properly addressed in this province. This is a great tragedy. In some rural areas, 1 in every 10 babies is born with FAS. The effects are permanent and irreversible, and very costly to the individual and society.

This is not just a preventable tragedy. It is child abuse.

I have sought legal opinion on what the provincial government can do to curb FAS, beyond the awareness campaigns that have been the main response of government to date.

We are looking to find a way to commit women who drink heavily and habitually whilst pregnant for treatment, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to prevent damage to their unborn child. We will do this with all the necessary circumspection and due regard for the rights of mothers to bodily integrity.  But we have to start thinking of the rights of the child, and of the rights of society.

Speaker, the state in the open, opportunity society is not an interfering state. We believe that people should have the freedom to decide their own course of action and choose their own destiny. But when individual choices impinge on other people's rights, the state has a duty to protect those rights.

We cannot expand opportunities and do for people what they cannot be expected to themselves if we have to spend a high proportion of the budget on the avoidable impact of alcohol and drug abuse.

It is time people understood their responsibilities and took them seriously. We will make sure they
do.

Issued by the Western Cape Premier's Office, March 19 2010

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