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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has procured land to set up a drug rehabilitation centre in Cowdray Park as part of efforts to fight the rampant abuse of drugs by youths in Bulawayo.
Bulawayo does not have a dedicated rehabilitation centre and drug abusers are often referred to Ingutsheni Central Hospital, a psychiatric institution.
Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube said the city had applied to the Bulawayo City Council for land and the application had been successful.
She said the drug rehabilitation centre was very critical given the proliferation of drugs and their abuse by young people in the city.
“We need that centre because some of the youths are initiated into drugs unknowingly. They don’t know the damage that these drugs cause to their bodies, later we say umntwana kasazazi.
Once we get that sort of a centre in Bulawayo, those youths will be assisted to quit drugs and rehabilitated to remove the toxins from their bodies,” said Minister Ncube.
She said they had engaged Mr Mthandazo Ndlovu, a former officer from the Drug and Narcotic Squad (CID Drugs) and founder of a non-governmental organisation, Rechabites Trust, which assists in the rehabilitation of youths in the city.
“We have engaged a specialist who has been working with the United Nations and he said I need to come and assist my own children and brothers back home.
As Government we will support him and we urge the private sector and the community to support him,” said Minister Ncube.
Mr Ndlovu founded the Narconon Africa Rehabilitation Centre in North West province, South Africa and is a former United Nations Officer for Drugs and Serious Crimes, prosecutor, investigator for Drugs and Serious Crimes for Southern and Eastern Africa.
Asked when the setting up of the rehabilitation centre would commence, Minister Ncube said: “We are going to start now, we are soon going to have a launch where we will be inviting everyone to be part of this great initiative”.
Minister Ncube in January revealed that drug dealers in the city were allegedly lacing food with drugs for sale to school children during break time.
It is alleged that drug dealers sell cakes, freezits, scones and maputi mixed with drugs at various schools in the city.
She said pupils, at one meeting, disclosed that they smuggle mbanje in their neck ties and smoke it during break time.
Some of the common drugs abused by youths are mbanje, broncleer and diazepam, a drug used to treat anxiety disorders, alcohol withdrawal symptoms and muscle spasms among others.
According to research, factors that contribute to children abusing drugs include a family history of substance use, depression, low self-esteem, influence by peers and the need to blend with others.
These factors eventually push the child to become an addict.
A registry office will be set-up on the same piece of land where the rehabilitation centre will be established. “As for the registry, we need to decongest the main offices in the city centre. When it’s raining abantu bayahawula, if we have such centres around the city especially in the high density suburbs, it’s for the better,” said Minister Ncube. – @AuxiliaK
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