BRIDGET MASANGO

Notwithstanding Operation Shanela, which drives the South African Police Service’s strategy to fight crime, the rate of drugs entering SA’s borders continues to escalate.

Just a week ago, the police intercepted cocaine worth R13-million hidden inside bus air conditioners at Durban Harbour, while a 25-year-old woman was arrested carrying 10kg of cocaine at OR Tambo International Airport, and a Brazilian man was caught with drugs wrapped around his thighs.

This is no longer a policing problem; it is now a national crisis. The scaffolding holding up South Africa’s social fabric and our public health service is in a death spiral.

Corrective tools we have at our disposal, some of them being the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act of 2008 and the Central Drug Authority (CDA), are insufficient to face the challenge.

The CDA is constitutionally mandated to co-ordinate the government’s response to substance abuse and drugs, and yet, as SA celebrates 30 years of the constitution, we are living through a devastating drug epidemic.

The CDA has a clear mandate on paper. The entity is supposed to co-ordinate SA’s entire response to substance abuse and oversee the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan by bringing together government departments, law enforcement, health officials, schools, municipalities, non-governmental organisations and communities.

However, the contradictory reality that diminishes its mandate is that it has no authority to enforce implementation; it cannot compel co-operation among government departments, and it has no control over its own budget.

It exists as a sub-directorate in the department of social development. This means it depends entirely on the department’s mercy for how much money it receives for its operations, which, in turn, determines the programmes it can undertake. That is the ridiculous state of affairs in the face of a national crisis.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that 316 million people globally used drugs in 2023, a more than 20% increase over the last decade. What’s more, SA is no longer just a transit route; it is now a destination market of addictions and an organised crime playground.

Organised crime is expanding its trade routes for cocaine, heroin and other synthetic drugs across the Indian Ocean and through our ports of entry.

Furthermore, Tik is tightening its grip on SA’s historically impoverished communities, predominantly in the Western Cape, leaving chaos and mental retardation in its wake.

Then there is nyaope, which is devastating, similarly, to historically impoverished communities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where children as young as 12 are reportedly being targeted by drug syndicates in areas like Daveyton.

Compounding this terrible situation is that SA does not know the true scale of its drug crisis. There are no reliable national prevalence statistics and no real-time national drug surveillance system. There is no accurate estimate of how many South Africans are addicted and no proper data on how many people die from drug-related causes.

The CDA relies on the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (Sacendu), which specialises in research and surveillance to monitor trends in alcohol and tobacco use and other use-related consequences across South Africa.

However, Sacendu only tracks people who present themselves in treatment centres, meaning that millions of people who do not present themselves remain uncounted. Many drug users who need help do not appear in the statistics, because they never enter rehabilitation. SA’s more than 60-million people only have access to some 13 drug treatment centres.

It is impossible to solve a crisis without proper measures in place for a national response.

It is against this backdrop that the portfolio committee on social development calls for the reform and proper capacitation of the CDA to enable it to meet its intended mandate.

The CDA should be transformed into an executive non-governmental public structure; it should become a semi-autonomous institution with an independent board, CEO and budget, and it should account directly to parliament.

This would protect it somewhat from the grip of governmental bureaucracy. In addition, the CDA would function effectively with properly funded local drug action committees, community-based interventions in every municipality, specialised anti-corruption drug enforcement units and evidence-based prevention campaigns in schools. If well resourced, it may also be a source of national statistics on the prevalence of drug abuse in the country.

Currently, departments work in silos and municipalities treat local drug action committees as unfunded mandates. Provincial forums collapse because of weak support and lack of resources. The liquor amendment bill has been stalled since 2016, while law enforcement corruption continues to undermine operations.

Recently, the Madlanga Commission heard explosive testimony about a R200-million cocaine consignment stolen from Hawks offices in Port Shepstone. Drug busts are recorded in the system, but the system itself is compromised.

Inasmuch as SA needs law enforcement, it also needs treatment, prevention, harm reduction, research, rehabilitation, reintegration and community support.

Because every day we delay, another child is recruited into organised crime syndicates, another addict overdoses and another family buries a loved one while the criminal syndicates get richer.

Around the world, countries facing escalating substance abuse crises are moving toward specialised agencies with operational autonomy and stronger co-ordination powers.

SA cannot continue fighting 21st-century drug syndicates with fragmented and outdated 20th-century structures and strategies.

It is time for the country to have a national, legislated, semi-autonomous, well-capacitated and resourced agency that will advise and co-ordinate its response to drug abuse.

The time of disseminating propaganda claiming that this blight on our landscape is under control is long past. Now, we must act!