Crime fighters to tackle growing drug problem

‘We will also be giving the police an ultimatum to address the situation . . . if they do not, it will leave us, as the community, with no option but to take action ourselves’

Crime-fighting organisation, Operation Wanya Tsotsi, will be holding a community meeting at the Open Air Arena in Galeshewe on Sunday to address the growing drug problem in the city.

Pantsi Obusitse, the group’s chairperson, said yesterday that during the meeting weapons and drugs that had been confiscated in the city would be handed over to the police.

“We will also be giving the police an ultimatum to address the situation. If they do not, it will leave us, as the community, with no option but to take action ourselves.”

Obusitse added that community members had constantly called on the authorities, as well as government departments, to assist with the growing drug problem in the city.

“Like other issues that have been brought to the government’s attention, including the Section 106 investigation report on the Sol Plaatje Municipality, we are afraid that this issue will also be swept under the carpet, with nothing being done, and the drug lords will be protected.”

He said that the organisation was also calling on politicians, who appealed to community members to register for the elections, to set aside their party politics and to join the community in helping to address the scourge of drugs.

“Crystal meth (tik), nyaope . . . they are all available in Kimberley but the biggest problem is with mandrax, this is the most used drug in the city.”

Obusitse added that over one weekend, during stop-and-search operations conducted by Wanya Tsotsi, drugs with a street value of around R5 000 were confiscated. “If we go to a drug house, we can easily find drugs like crystal meth, worth (with a street value of) around R30 000.”

He pointed out that if someone was stopped and drugs were found in their possession, they were handed over to the police by Wanya Tsotsi members.

“The next day that same person is walking in the streets again. When we asked the police about this we were told that they could only detain someone and it was up to the courts to decide whether that person should be prosecuted.

“Therefore, we will also be speaking to the National Prosecuting Authority to get their support in this fight against drugs.”

He added that another problem was that one of the biggest drug hot spots in the city was “right at the back of the Hawks’ building” in the city centre.

“It is obvious that the authorities are not taking this issue seriously because it is happening right under the noses of the Hawks and nothing is being done.”

Obusitse said that one of the demands of the community on Sunday would be to insist that the police “go straight from this meeting to clean up the drug mess outside the offices of the Hawks”.

“We will also be giving them the addresses of houses where drugs are a problem.”