adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
TEN pupils from Phakamani High School were recently suspended from school after they were caught taking drugs.
About 16 more from Plumtree High School were suspended a few months back for the same offence.The revelations were made at a Mangwe District National Aids Council third quarter stakeholders meeting.
Participants raised concern over the spate of drug abuse related cases among Plumtree Town secondary school pupils.
A participant at the meeting pointed out that high cases of drug abuse were making pupils sexually active.
“It appears that pupils don’t want to abstain from having sexual intercourse no matter how many awareness campaigns are held.
Some of their sexual activities are caused by drug abuse,” noted a participant.
The bulk of these activities by pupils have been attributed to the fact that Plumtree is a border town.
Plumtree has two secondary schools, namely Phakamani and Plumtree High School.
Pupils buy their drugs from various selling points within the town.
A 25-year-old man from the town who recently appeared in court facing charges of selling dagga told the court that some of his clients were school pupils from the town.
Mangwe District Aids Coordinator, Lincolyn Ncube, said programmes had been rolled out to schools to educate pupils on the dangers of drug abuse and premarital sexual activities.
Sex workers from the town recently revealed that some of their clients were school pupils from Plumtree High School.
Ncube also pointed out that the bulk of sexual abuse victims in the district were high school girls.
He said the girls’ behaviour exposed them to the risk of HIV infection.
“From the period July to September there were 20 cases of sexual abuse which were reported and 11 of these were pupils aged between 10 and 16 years. Of these 20 cases, only one was on a boy child. It’s possible that there were even more cases than these but they weren’t reported,” he said.
Ncube said while most clinics had been turned into ART initiating sites patients were still failing to adhere to treatment because of the long distances between their homes and clinics.
He said some patients had to travel 64 kilometres on foot to access medication while some opted to skip their medication due to the long distances.
Ncube briefed the meeting that the district had recorded high condom distribution figures but villagers were collecting them for the wrong reasons.
He said ladies were using the condoms as oil for their faces, some were using them to prepare floor polish while other people used the condoms to relieve muscle pains.
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