Nobody in charge of the fight against drugs

Whilst substance is wreaking havoc in South African communities, the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, is ignoring important tools to address this problem.

The required review of the National Drug Master Plan (NDMP) is now almost a year overdue, and the Minister has failed to appoint new board members to the Central Drug Authority (CDA), after the previous board was dissolved at the end of September. 

In a presentation by the CDA to Parliament's Social Development Portfolio Committee, it was revealed that South Africa's prevalence rate for the use of amphetamine type stimulants (tik) and cannabis is twice the global norm. As a result of increasing levels of alcohol abuse, about 122 out of every 1 000 babies are born with foetal alcohol syndrome.

Drug use costs the country, on average, over R20 billion per annum. Experts predict that the problem will escalate beyond the HIV/AIDS pandemic as more people become addicted and less people seek help. 

Yet the Minister of Social Development seems to have abandoned the tools at her disposal to fight the substance abuse scourge. 

The CDA has been operating without a board for more than a month now, despite the fact that the letter of recommendation for the appointment of candidates was forwarded to Minister Dlamini at the end of September 2012.

The NDMP, under the administration of the CDA, should be revised every four years and sent to cabinet for approval, before being gazetted in Parliament. However, the Department of Social Development is still concluding their work on this national plan almost a year past its deadline.

With no board to operate the CDA and no plan to respond to the dangerous levels of substance abuse in South Africa, Minister Dlamini has effectively abandoned South African families with members who battle with drug and alcohol addiction and the communities plagued by drug-related crime. 

I will today be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Social Development, Ms Yolanda Botha, to request that she call Minister Dlamini before the Committee to explain what steps she will be taking to ensure that the new NDMP is finalised as a matter of urgency and a board is appointed to the CDA to ensure its effective implementation. 

Statement issued by Mike Waters MP, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, November 7 2012

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