From Belhar to Bryanston: How the drug epidemic affects us all

On Monday, Tim Cohen, writing in Business Day, opined that he was "amazed" to see posters of me in Johannesburg exhorting the public to "win the war against drugs". These posters are part of the DA's national anti-crime campaign. "It's hard to think of a more bizarre message in the midst of an economic downturn," Cohen wrote.

Tim Cohen's opinion is probably shared by suburban dwellers that have not experienced first-hand the ravages of substance abuse in South Africa (or at least who think they have not).

Many of them may not have been directly affected by HIV/AIDS either. But they know how devastating this disease will be to South Africa 's future if it is not faced and curbed. It is everyone's problem.

Drug and alcohol abuse, in my view, may prove to be an even more fundamental threat to South Africa 's future than HIV/AIDS. As more and more HIV-positive people get access to anti-retroviral treatment they are able to live productive lives as contributing members of society. In contrast, the growing (young) legions of substance abusers are destroying themselves, their families, and their communities. They are driving crime up and the economy down.

In one of the gruesome recent cases, two tik addicts admitted to murdering a young woman by dousing her with petrol and setting her alight in an argument over a missing cellphone. The judge reportedly told them: "If you weren't on tik you would have acted differently. You would not have gone and performed this insane act".

According to the South African Police Services (SAPS), 60% of all crimes are related to substance abuse (the figure is closer to 80% in the Western Cape ). The perpetrators of these crimes are either under the influence of substances, or trying to secure money for their next fix. The Central Drug Authority estimates that the socio-economic costs of drug abuse are R20 billion every year.

When I was MEC for Education in the Western Cape , I learnt that unmanageable classrooms are often the outward manifestation of a drug problem. Even one or two addicts could destroy a learning environment for 40 children. Addicts soon lose the ability to learn and drop out. Theft and drug dealing at schools has become commonplace.  Drug abuse is denying more and more children a good education, and severely constraining their opportunities to improve their lives.

When I visited New York Police Commissioner Kelly earlier this year to find out how they had brought down crime so significantly, I was not surprised when he told me that beating the "crack" cocaine epidemic was a key to their success.

Commissioner Kelly confirmed to me that winning the war against drugs is integral to reducing crime and improving education, two factors that are vital for economic growth.

A study released last month by the Small Business Project found that more than half of small businesses had experienced at least one incident of crime in the last year. Small businesses lose up to 20% of their turnover to crime. According to the government's crime statistics, robberies from business premises have increased by 47.4% since last year.

Crime is also a key driver of the brain drain - over half of South Africans who emigrate cite crime and corruption as their main reason for leaving. When they leave, they take their skills and capital with them and drastically reduce the prospects for growth and job creation for the unemployed.

So, in a nutshell, drug abuse is everyone's problem.

Last night I attended an anti-drug vigil in Belhar in Cape Town . I was invited there by concerned residents who have begun staging night vigils outside a drug dealer's house in an attempt to stop him selling tik to their children.

Suburban drug dealers are commonplace in many communities. Everyone knows where they are. Residents everywhere tell stories of how teenagers visit these dealers at all hours to buy drugs, including young mothers with babies in their arms, in the rain and cold, queuing to buy tik (in Cape Town ) or sugars (in Durban ) or the local variants elsewhere. Taxis arrive at these houses throughout the night, full of people looking for their next fix. Parents tell how their homes are stripped bare by their own increasingly violent children, who steal anything they can sell for drugs.

What makes the Belhar community different is that they took concerted action to stop the illegal drug trade in their midst. Within a few weeks of the vigils starting, the drug dealer bowed to pressure from the community and agreed to stop selling drugs. This is a small, but significant victory. The community have now begun a series of vigils outside the houses of other drug dealers in the area in an attempt to replicate this success.

The situation in Belhar is not unique. This year I have led anti-drug marches in Brixton, Johannesburg; in Phoenix, Durban; in Heidedal in the Free State; in Gelvandale in Port Elizabeth; and in Mitchells Plein, Ravensmead and Macassar in Cape Town.

The story is the same wherever we go. People live in fear of the gangsters who sell their drugs; they worry themselves sick about their children falling prey to them. This fear and anxiety is not a product of media hype, as Minister Nqakula so often likes to claim. It is the reality on the ground, a place where our government seldom looks.

Even government should be aware of the studies that show that the average age of drug dependency in South Africa is now 12 years old and dropping. One in two schoolchildren admits to having experimented with drugs.

So why does government remain in denial about our drug problem? If government took active steps to eradicate drugs, it would drastically reduce crime. Instead, it has done the opposite.

In 2004, government disbanded the South African Narcotics Bureau (SANAB), a dedicated drug-fighting unit within the SAPS that had achieved some notable successes. Since SANAB's closure, drug-related crimes have increased exponentially -- in fact by 30%. Now, government is disbanding the Scorpions who were highly successful in shutting down the crime syndicates at the heart of drug production and distribution in South Africa.

The fact of the matter is this: If we beat drug abuse, we can go a long way to beating crime. To beat drugs, we have to take serious action. As a start, the DA would reinstate SANAB and expand it so that specialised anti-drug squads are based in all high drug-activity areas across South Africa . The use of sniffer-dogs in such squads has also proved particularly effective in locating drugs stashes.

We would then take steps to increase border security to make shipping drugs in and out of the country more difficult.

According to the Auditor-General's assessment of our borderline security, our land borders are under-capacitated by 71%, our sea borders by 96%, and our air borders have no permanent staff at all. It is not surprising that the recently released UN World Drug Report named South Africa as one of the drug capitals of the world.

The DA supports random drug testing in schools, and the establishment of state rehabilitation centres to make treatment more affordable for the poor. We would require all prisoners to be tested drug-free for a significant period before they could qualify for release or parole.

We would take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption in the police. For every brave and hardworking police officer, there is one who abuses his position for personal gain. It is well known that drug lords are able to operate with impunity because of the kickbacks they give to corrupt police officers in return for acquiescence and information.

The DA would not have allowed National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, to draw a salary of a million rand a year after being charged with colluding with drug kingpin Glen Agliotti. We believe that any SAPS official found guilty of corruption - no matter how big or small - should never be allowed to work in the force again.

For too long government has been apathetic about the drug and crime epidemic devastating our communities and our economy. But we can win the war on drugs and we can win the war on crime. Society depends on its stronger members protecting the weak and the vulnerable. With the will and the right attitude, like the law abiding citizens of Belhar, we can take back our communities and protect the futures of our children.

This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, a weekly online letter from the leader of the Democratic Alliance, August 8 2008