President Jacob Zuma said he was shoked by the high number of drug abusers in the Eesterus community. “The number is too high, normally when there are drrug abusers the number is low, in this case it is too high, and it means there are a high number of drug lords behind that,” President Zuma said.
He was speaking at the Presidential Imbizo which aimed at strengthening the fight against drugs and substance abuse particularly amongst young people in Eersterust in the east of Pretoria on Friday 21 August 2015. Over 1000 people filled the marquee at the Eesterus stadium among them anti-drug groups. The President promised residents that intervention will come from all spheres of government to arrest the situation. The Imbizo promoted youth development in the community and surroundings. The visit followed an appeal by the community of Eersterust to the President to intervene in addressing challenges facing the community, in particular drug addiction and drug syndicates who operate in the community and cause a number of social ills to the detriment of young people and children.
The following interventions will be undertaken by government;
The police have been running operations aimed at arresting drug runners, the kingpins behind them, and other criminal elements operating in the community. About sixty nine (69) crime intelligence operations have been conducted so far in the area and have led to the arrest of fifty five (55) alleged drug dealers.
Police are further working with community based anti-crime organizations and security cluster partners in conducting awareness campaigns against drugs and crime in general in the area as well as other operations such schools campaigns, through police visibility, stop and search operations and other initiatives.
The City of Tshwane has registered 1 024 indigent families from the community of Eersterust who are receiving free basic services. During the recent road show in July, the City of Tshwane also assisted 187 families who needed urgent intervention assistance.
The City of Tshwane has also donated recently R100 000 to two Early Childhood Development Centres in the community. The money is used to purchase groceries, toys, and the training of staff. This is in addition to various community services that the city provides to the community.
There have been various events focused on fighting substance abuse that have been coordinated by the Eersterust Local Drugs Action Committee, the Department of Social Development and the City of Tshwane. These include the convening of two summits focused on drugs and substance abuse; the Drugs and Substance Abuse Road show early this year; and recently a visit by the Minister of Social Development to mark the International Day on Drugs and Illicit Trafficking.
There has been interaction with the community regarding the shortage of housing, and measures that need to be taken to meet the challenge.
The following will be done moving forward:
Youth Development
The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will open an office in Eersterust before the end November this year. The main purpose of the office will be to provide information to young people about education, career, employment and economic opportunities.
The NYDA will also convene a Jobs for Youth Summit in Eersterust which will provide jobs preparedness training to young people in this community.
The NYDA, working together with the City of Tshwane and the province, plans to implement a Youth Build Infrastructure Development Programme in Eersterust whereby 100 young people from this community will build 100 houses to address the housing shortage in Eersterust. The 100 young people will be trained in house building, plumbing and carpentry.
The Social Sector will fast track the implementation of Youth Development and Skills Development Programme in Eersterust. There will be a campaign to encourage the youth in Eersterust to apply for internships and learnerships in government departments and other state agencies. Focused attention will be paid on addressing the high school dropout rates in the community.
As part of addressing this matter, parents will be encouraged to attend school meetings and government leaders and officials will visit the community to encourage the youth to attend school and emphasise the importance of education.
The Department of Social Development in the three spheres of government plans to do the following to address the scourge of substance abuse:
• Working with community organisations in the area the Department intends to replicate the Eldorado Park model of responding to the crisis of substance abuse. In Eldorado Park government is implementing an integrated response where organs of state from across the spheres work closely together with the community to address the impact of substance abuse. Bed capacity at Dr Florence and Fabian Ribeiro Treatment Centre will be increased in order to accommodate an expected increased intake of young people from the community who need treatment from substance abuse.
• An extensive awareness campaign about the dangers of substance abuse will be undertaken in the community.
• Part of the campaign will entail the deployment of mobile billboards with anti-substance abuse messages.
• The Mobile Counselling and Outpatient Treatment Services will be introduced to the community to treat those who are already on drugs.
• There will also be focussed attention on supporting families. The support will include ensuring that social workers are available to support families facing distress. The Department of Social Development will also intensify the implementation of family preservation and enrichment programmes in the community.
• There will also be attention paid to establishment of aftercare/afterschool programmes so that young people can get engaged in recreational programmes that will take them away from drugs.
• There will be a campaign introduced to increase awareness about the abuse of older persons in the community. The Adopt a Gogo Programme will also be introduced in Eersterust to assist with caring for the elderly. Assistive devices such as wheelchairs will also be provided.
• Indigent families will be identified and be referred to SASSA for assistance. The community will be supported to start community food gardens.
Human settlements
A Dispute Resolution Committee has been established to address contestations about illegal occupation of flat units at Riverside Heights Flats. Members of the community have expressed interest in owning the flats instead of renting them. The City of Tshwane is in the process of allocating the flats on a Sectional Title basis so that given to members of the community.
The two-room houses (Nantes houses) which are owned by the state are in the process of being transferred to the ownership of community members.
There is acute shortage of land for greenfield housing development in Eersterust. The City of Tshwane is in discussions with the province for governments-subsidised housing development in an area outside Eersterust.
In an effort to improve housing and human settlement in the area, particularly for elders and people with disabilities, the City of Tshwane is working on plan that will swiftly address the housing challenges through its Beneficiary Administration of the housing programme.
Youth employment and skills development
With regard to the high unemployment rate amongst the youth, the Department of Social Development working together with other government departments such as Higher Education and Training will link youth to skills development and empowerment programmes, ensure job placements and establish a skills development centre in the area.
The department has begun working with the Department of Basic Education to integrate young people who dropped out from school into the mainstream schooling to curb the high rate of school drop-outs. The two departments are working on the plan to establish a school for learners with special educational needs.
In strengthening youth development in the area, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will establish a Local Youth Office to provide information to the youth of Eersterust on a day to day basis. The NYDA Local Youth Office will be established by November this year. This follows a recent unannounced visit to Eersterust by Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Buti Manamela.
The agency will also conduct the Jobs for Youth Summit providing job preparedness training and information for youth to be more employable. In partnership with the Tshwane Municipality and the Department of Human Settlements, the NYDA will implement a Youth Build Infrastructure Development Programme where 100 youth will build 100 houses for the community.
The City will further engage with the community to build communal sports facilities, in a commitment informed by the long distance youth have to travel to reach sports facilities. These commitments were made during the visit by Deputy Minister Manamela who was accompanied by the City of Tshwane councillors.
“This has been a highly successful interaction with the community of Eersterus and surroundings. We are happy that the community works closely with government and law enforcement agencies as well to fight drugs and substance abuse and also to promote youth development. This is ongoing work, we must keep working together until we have defeated this scourge. Our youth deserves a better life and we can achieve it if we work together,’’ said President Zuma.
President Zuma was accompanied by the Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, who is the lead Minister on the fight against drug and substance abuse, as well as a number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers, the Premier of Gauteng, Mr David Makhura accompanied by MECs as well as the City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Councillor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and members of mayoral committees and councillors.
