Online Reporter
Nqobile Bhebhe Zimpapers Writer
TOUGH love is coming to Nyamandlovu as a disciplinary bootcamp kicks off next month to whip drug-abusing and wayward youths into shape.
The two-week programme, spearheaded by Coast Guards Security, will run from 10 to 23 August 10, targeting troubled teens and young adults with a cocktail of discipline, leadership drills and character-moulding exercises.
Coast Guards Security Managing Director Shawn Ndebele said the bootcamp is a direct response to the rise in drug abuse and youth delinquency sweeping through communities.
“We seek to help youths addicted to drugs and parents struggling with troublesome children who are developing dangerous behavioural patterns,” he said.
Timed to coincide with the school holiday, the bootcamp aims to give school-going children a chance to detox from drugs and disorder while learning self-control, teamwork and personal accountability.
“Schools are struggling with drug wars involving rival peddlers and addicts. Some pupils have gone as far as stabbing each other during drug-fuelled fights,” said Ndebele. “Parents are desperate as some kids are selling off household items just to fund their next hit.”
Organisers say the bootcamp will also draw from experiences at rehabilitation centres to offer professional help as part of the broader war against narcotics.
Zimbabwe continues to battle a rising tide of substance abuse, with crystal meth—locally known as mutoriro—cannabis and other illegal drugs wreaking havoc on the nation’s youth.
The effects are devastating: a surge in violent crime, crumbling family structures, clogged health institutions and an alarming rise in mental health issues.
The Nyamandlovu bootcamp joins a growing list of grassroots efforts rallying to support government interventions aimed at crushing the drug menace before it claims a generation.
derick.khumalo