KwaMashu drug deaths indicate urgency of implementing Narcotics Enforcement Bureau

27 March 2016

The Democratic Alliance reiterates its call for Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to hasten the roll-out of Narcotics Enforcement Bureau units in priority clusters to crack down on illicit drug trafficking, following the tragic drug-related deaths of at least 4 young people in KwaMashu, Durban in KwaZulu-Natal during the past week. 

After President Zuma announced that these specialised anti-drug units would be established, I wrote to Minister Nhleko requesting information on the detailed implementation plan for the Narcotics Enforcement Bureau but to date there has been no response.

This should not be a difficult task. The South African Police Service should start by reconvening what is left of the personnel who constituted the specialised anti-drug units that were disastrously disbanded by former National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi in 2006. The next step must be to identify priority clusters where the initial reconstituted units would begin their focussed investigations and intelligence-led policing operations. 

The 2014/15 crime statistics already provide an evidence-based guideline which would indicate that KwaMashu should be a priority surveillance area because it lies between the two KwaZulu-Natal police precincts that registered the highest number of drug-related crimes in the province, Durban Central and Phoenix.

The setting up of a task team to address the emerging crisis, as has been reported, is not adequate to ensure a long-term, sustainable solution. The “task team” approach has been the default modus operandi of the SAPS to deal with syndicate crime since specialised units were disbanded, from vehicle hijacking to gang violence, but its impact has always been short-lived and failed to stop year-on-year increases in drug-related crime and aggravated robberies.

The DA expresses its condolences to the families of the four young people whose lives were prematurely cut short by toxic drugs that ravage too many communities and sympathises with the 36 others who were critically affected after ingesting the so-called “Mercedes” concoction. This tragic turn of events should spur the Police Minister and top brass to hasten the implementation of the specialised anti-drug units in order to minimise more innocent deaths in future.

Statement issued by Zakhele Mbhele MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 27 March 2016