Teachers Are At Their Wits' End And Live In Fear Because Drugs Rule In Kzn Schools Teaching has become as dangerous as facing bullets in the streets. "I became a teacher instead of a police officer because I was terrified of the risks involved, only to find that the classroom is just as dangerous as fighting crime." These are the words of a KwaZulu-Natal teacher who chose the profession because she wanted to make a difference. She had hoped to fulfil her passion for working with and in the community without compromising her safety in the process. [continues 784 words]
An innovative five-minute drug testing kit has been introduced in schools in an effort to stem the growing tide of substance abuse by pupils. Leon Klugman of Focus Products, the company that distributes the test kits, says: "We brought in the test kits as a crime-fighting tool and the schools got interested and started using it." The kit, Drugsmart Cup, is used in random drug testing in schools. A Drugsmart Cup kit that tests for five of the most common drugs used by schoolchildren costs R70. [continues 300 words]
Few eyebrows would have been raised at the claims by Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille that the police are involved in corruption and drug shipping in many parts of the country. This is because of past incidents in which bad apples in the police force and drug syndicates had exposed such collusion. Also corroborating Zille's claims is the fact that drug syndicates still operate with impunity in major centres of the country. Addressing residents of Phoenix in Durban at the weekend, Zille also claimed that drug lords paid police officers tax for protection. [continues 67 words]
An evening out on the town ended in a nightmare for four friends in central Cape Town after police and security guards insisted on searching their vehicle for drugs. Police claimed one of the group was a "known Cape Town drug dealer" when, in fact, he is a mathematical specialist for a Johannesburg banking group. Ted Powers, a doctoral candidate at the City University of New York, accused the police of racial profiling, claiming the only reason they had been targeted was that two of the four were white and two were black with dreadlocks. [continues 739 words]
Amendment To Education Act Allows Random Testing Of Pupils To Curb Abuse There are concerns that innocent pupils could fall foul of a new law that allows random drug testing at public schools. Under the new Education Laws Amendment Act, which was passed in December, a school principal can "under reasonable suspicion" test and search pupils for drugs. Though the law is aimed at curbing substance abuse among pupils, there is concern that the testing might be compromised. Sarah Fisher, executive director of Smart (Substance Misuse Advocacy Research and Training) said the drug tests were similar to pregnancy tests. She said urine tests were only for screening and could not be relied on as an indicator of whether a pupil was a consistent substance abuser. [continues 539 words]
Teenage users more prone to mental illness and lower IQs study finds 22 February 2008 Thousands of youngsters could end up with shrunken brains, thanks to sustained tik use and there is scientific evidence to prove it. Brain images taken from participants in a study at the University of Stellenbosch's psychiatry department shows that brain shrinkage is a dangerous consequence of this widely used drug. And teenagers, whose brains are in an extremely vulnerable developmental change, are much more likely to end up with chronic mental illness, says Dr Bonga Chiliza, a specialist psychiatrist in the department. [continues 613 words]
Principals and teachers are wary of implementing newly passed laws which allow for testing of pupils suspected of using drugs. Most Cape Town educators surveyed raised concerns about uncertainties over the legislation while others said the cost of drug-testing kits was prohibitive. Gazetted in December, the Education Laws Amendment Act also gives teachers the right to search pupils and seize any drugs, weapons or dangerous objects. Many school principals in the city said they were conducting searches and seizures but were hesitant to roll out random urine tests. [continues 352 words]
The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, is once again going to challenge the authorities by marching against gangsterism and drugs in a community where the drug lords are thriving. She announced that on Sunday she would conduct a march through the streets of Macassar in the east of the city, near Somerset West. A statement issued on Friday by her party said: "Macassar is one of the many communities in the Western Cape that have been ravaged by drug abuse and gangsterism." [continues 117 words]
Six years ago, the average age of a first-time drug user was 19. Today it's 10. It has become so bad that experts say every school in the country now has a drug problem and that it's out of control. A member of the drug training and awareness centre at the SA Police Service's Organised Crime Unit, Jan Combrink, who has visited schools to teach children about the dangers of drug abuse, has found children as young as 4 using drugs. [continues 612 words]
WESTERN Cape police have assigned 10 additional police vehicles and several more officers to Bitou to help fight the scourge of drug abuse in the area. The endorsement came from Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros after a plea from members of Bitou's anti-drug campaign, Save Our Selves (SOS). Following a presentation, the commissioner acknowledged the need for more police officials in the area and said he was willing to act quickly. Petros said extra police personnel would be sent to Bitou to drive the vehicles. However, there was a shortage of housing in Plettenberg Bay for these officers, which would take some time to sort out. He would not give details on time frames or how many officers would be deployed. [continues 306 words]
Desmond D'Sa's burn scars will forever remind him of the forces opposed to Wentworth's anti-drug and crime campaign. On Friday, D'Sa's Austerville flat was targeted by petrol bomb-wielding arsonists. In a desperate bid to put out the flames that threatened the lives of his wife and two daughters, D'Sa suffered burns to his hands and face. On Sunday, the smell of petrol still lingered in the air as D'Sa inspected his home. [continues 552 words]
There is a "rising tide" of corruption in the SA Police Service, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille alleged yesterday. "Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and the leadership of the SAPS need to find the political will to acknowledge the grave threat that police corruption poses to our country," she said in her weekly online newsletter. One of the main reasons the fight against drugs in South Africa was so ineffective was that the police were protecting druglords. Referring to the charges against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, Zille said many South Africans would not have been particularly surprised to learn of allegations that he was being paid protection money by a drug kingpin. [continues 339 words]
Gauteng is home to the shady drug laboratories that produce the Western Cape's tik - but drug counsellors warn that its abuse is on the rise in the Western Cape too. On Wednesday, Social Welfare Deputy Minister Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs announced that a legal loophole would be plugged in the 2003 law that had made ephedrine (or "speed") a schedule-5 drug (only available to patients with a doctor's prescription). She said the law had failed to curb production of its synthetic form, pseudoephedrine, which is a decongestant used in flu medicines and cough mixtures. [continues 390 words]
One must marvel at the unlimited capacity of the human race not to learn from the past. Take wars, for example. No war has in the long run achieved anything. Millions of people have died unnecessarily, mostly at the a whim of the regent, president, paramount chief, prime minister or reichs-chancellor. Another case in point relates to what one could call "synthetic" political systems, such as communism. While attractive in theory, it gets mangled by imperfect humans such as Lenin, Stalin or Chaiman Mao and their personal agendas. Mostly such systems have been discredited. [continues 529 words]
Bloody Battles Could 'Wipe Out A Generation' Of Durban Men A bloody drug turf war in Chatsworth, south of Durban, has resulted in 17 drive-by shootings and eight drug-related killings in less than a year, creating a climate of fear in the community. The market has boomed since the introduction of the highly addictive "Sugars" drug about three years ago. Mandrax and crack-cocaine dealers, who built empires, have been squeezed in recent years as Sugars has become Chatsworth's drug of choice, sparking rivalry between dealers for the new market. [continues 543 words]
In a new craze sweeping Ocean View, tik-fuelled youngsters go "hunting" with their pitbulls, searching for vulnerable targets - canine or human. A number of residents have been badly bitten in recent weeks, while there have been numerous cases of pitbulls entering homes and seeking out people's pets. One small dog was dragged from under a bed, another was pulled underneath a gate and had its throat ripped out. "It's a new sport in Ocean View," said Sylvia Shortreed, a vet at the welfare group Tears, who has also treated dogs that have been sodomised by the drug-crazed youngsters. [continues 432 words]
South African schools have become battlegrounds and havens for drug trafficking, Social Development Deputy Minister Jean Swanson-Jacobs said yesterday. Swanson-Jacobs was addressing guests at the Ke Moja Hip-Hop Anti-Drug Campaign at Mannah Guest house in Kempton Park. "Drug trafficking has become the order of the day in our schools," she said. She said drug and alcohol abuse was a serious social challenge in the country. Swanson-Jacobs said drug abuse was fuelling high levels of violence, crime, road accidents, teenage depression and suicide. [continues 143 words]
Mitchells Plain anti-crime group Padlac has suspended its street marches indefinitely, claiming 36 smoke grenades stolen from Denel were to be used by "agents provocateurs" bent on distributing weapons to escalate violence and discredit the group. But Denel says the smoke grenades are not lethal. "Our marches are put on hold. We've taken this step because we suspect the Denel break-in could be part of a move to implicate us. What is happening now is a very similar to what happened to Pagad in the 1990s," said Fasieg Adams, leader of People Against Drugs, Liquor and Crime. [continues 381 words]
Community activists have called for a change in the way the child support grant is paid, saying many young mothers addicted to tik are using the money to feed their drug habit. "There should be goals for those receiving child support grants - there should not be a dependence on grants," said William Williams, programme manager for job-creation NGO Self-Help Manenberg. "The unemployed receiving social grants should be actively looking for work," he said. He also suggested that instead of cash payouts, grants be paid in vouchers that could be exchanged at supermarkets. [continues 340 words]
Highly addictive heroin available at R20 to R30 a fix is hitting teenagers across the country with devastating effects. The price of various low-grade heroin mixes - "nyaope" in Gauteng, "sugars" in Durban, "unga" in Cape Town and "pinch" in Mpumalanga - means teens can pool pocket-money to share a deathly high. SA National Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Sanca) national director Shamien Garda said nyaope use had increased among the youth in Gauteng, particularly in the north of Pretoria, in the past year. [continues 166 words]
Inside South Africa
