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By Desire Tshuma
A Hatcliffe councillor has bemoaned an increase in drug abuse among the youths despite efforts by non-governmental organisations working with the government towards eliminating the scourge.
Crystal meth,dagga, mutoriro, guka, musombodhiya are the most abused drugs among youths, especially in high-density suburbs. Following this, there has been a spate of robberies in the Hatcliffe high-density suburb with residents blaming drug lords for selling such dangerous drugs to youths, who will then rob and steal from residents under the influence of drugs. The situation has been exacerbated by high unemployment and skyrocketing inflation.
This writer came across a young girl at Afla business centre who testified that she takes drugs.
“I don’t hide that I take crystal meth and smoke dagga. I have nothing to do since I am not employed but if I can get capital to start a small business, I think I may quit drugs but it’s not easy to quit as I am now addicted,” said the girl who wanted to remain anonymous.
At another house in the same suburb, a group of youths was taking dangerous drugs.
“When I take Guka, I can not feel hungry for two days. I can only survive on biscuits and sweets and I don’t feel like sleeping,” said one of the boys who only identified himself as Rasta.
The councilor for Hatcliffe, Elvis Ruzane said he is working in partnership with Impact Africa (a non-governmental organisation that deals with the eradication of drugs) and the police in trying to address the problem of drug abuse.
“We engaged the police to arrest these drug dealers. For the first time, we managed to bring some of the drug dealers to book but later on, we saw some of the culprits walking scot-free, much to our surprise,” said Clr Ruzane.
He appealed to the government to also include youths in all issues that deal with the economy so as to keep them occupied.
A parent in the area said children are at risk because of the drug dealers.
“The government should create employment to keep our children occupied. It’s sad that we have many college and university graduates who are not employed. The Covid-19 lockdown also contributed to a lot of problems to our school-going children who were not going to school because of the lockdowns, ” she said.