Joint campaign targets growing drugs and gang culture in Duncan Village schools

MPHUMZI MSHWESHWE

Duncan Village school pupils were brought together for an anti-gangsterism campaign on Friday.

This after it was found that schools in the area are struggling with the emergence of a gang culture and underage substance abuse.

A Dispatch article last year reported the issue of growing gang culture in Duncan Village and surrounding areas, with schools finding it hard to handle school gangs without outside intervention.

This led to communities taking a more hands-on approach in ensuring children are in healthy schooling environments, such as Friday’s anti-gangsterism campaign.

Security company owner Man B Tyekana organised the campaign with other key stakeholders including the police, community safety forums, and representatives from the department of education.

Police spokesperson Hazel Mqala spoke to the school pupils about the dangers of drugs and substance abuse.

Mqala also spoke on how it was important for the community to work hand-in-hand with the police to ensure children were provided with the correct tools and guidance to keep them away from lives of drugs and crime.

“We have partnered with these NGOs to say no to drugs, to the community and to the pupils,” Mqala said.

“There is a saying that you have to teach the children while they are still young so that when they grow up they know what to do and what not to do, that is why we are here.

“This is not only for the learners but the public as well, but we are not here because there is a big issue here [Sinovuyo] but the issue is all across.

“The more you talk to a person, the more they will grasp what you are saying, we want such initiatives to carry on,” she said.

Pupils attending the campaign came from Ebenezer Majombozi, Kusile and Sinovuyo high schools, with a few local primary schools also in attendance.

Sitting in front of the community post office, the pupils were addressed by community leaders, senior officials, and social workers from the Eastern Cape department of education.

Social worker Zizipho Xaba said the department held life skills and anti-drugs talks in schools, and that it was important for parents and communities to be involved.

“The issues of gangsterism in schools starts when children are doing drugs.

“We are trying to stop drugs and gangsterism from entering schools by continually teaching children about the dangers of drugs, and their effects physically and mentally,” she said.

Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the department appreciated communities’ efforts in trying to curb the challenge of drugs and gangsterism in schools.

“This shows that communities care, and we appreciate the courage of standing up against this,” Mtima said.

“Things that happen in communities end up happening in schools, we appreciate such initiatives and we also want to call upon all other responsible citizens to follow suit.

“Such campaigns strengthen the relations between communities and schools and enhances a culture of responsibility,” he said.

The campaign comes on the heels of several reports of schools being infiltrated by gangs in the province.

Provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) secretary Ludumo Salman said interventions were needed to combat the scourge of gangsterism and drugs.

Salman said he was called to Sinovuyo High School just last week to attend to a problem of gangs browsing around the school and posing a threat to pupils and the operations of the school.

“I am happy there is a message that is being sent across, this is a campaign that must be supported,” Salman said.

“These are programmes that should be invested in, we have to sit down as stakeholders and map a way forward, and doing such campaigns annually will assist.”