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Victor Maphosa and Tina Musonza
Giant Chinese metals firm, Dinson Group, has joined the Government’s fight against drug and substance abuse and has taken it to the workplace.
Dinson employs over 3 000 people in operations at the steel plant at Manhize, its ferrochrome production plant in Selous and the coking coal plant in Hwange.
It launched the anti-drug and substance abuse awareness campaign, saying the scourge was affecting its employees and potentially destroying young people’s future.
Dinson director Mr Wilfred Motsi said: “This is in line with the call by President Mnangagwa that everyone deals with the drug abuse issue. We have realised through checks and testing that our employees are indulging in drugs. As a company we have started a vigorous campaign against drugs.”
Mr Motsi said the company was educating its workforce about the devastating health effects arising from drug and substance abuse, and how drugs affected their performance at work.
“We have tightened our searches at the main entrances,” he said. “We have also put some notices against drug abuse.
“Taking of drugs has serious negative effects which include but not limited to absenteeism, exposes employees to risk especially those that work with machinery and drivers, inaccuracy and ungovernability.”
Dinson is taking no chances regarding the drug abuse menace, he said, considering that the bulk of their employees are youths.
Other organisations such as Seed Foundation, Pamumvuri, Ignite Youth Organisation and Zvandiri, have also joined the fight against drug and substance abuse in hotspot areas.
Speaking during Seed Foundation in partnership with Pamumvuri, Parents Taking Charge Against Drug and Substance Abuse conference held in Harare yesterday, Seed Foundation founder Ms Jackie Rugayo said parents and caregivers were committed to complementing the Government’s drug master plan.
Some of the solutions being proffered to fight drug abuse include use of arts, bible teachings, dialogue between adults and youths, and parental knowledge of drugs to combat the drug pandemic.
“Children are a gift from God to their parents,” said Ms Rugayo. “Parents play a role to protect the children. As Seed Foundation, we are creative and young people are creative, they love to write, to do spoken word, they love to use their skills and abilities to express themselves.
“We have been doing initiatives such as arts, it has been helping to curb drug and substance abuse because it is the youths who perform these arts.”
“We realised young people love to learn about issues like drug and substance abuse through different things where they really express themselves.
“In 2017, we did a drama called “Can you hear me” where we dramatised a group of youths and it shows how they make decisions that lead to drug use. We realised that everyone was speaking but we were not hearing each other.”
Ms Rugayo commended the Government’s drug master plan and urged parents to lead societal interventions to combat drug and substance abuse.
Pamumvuri strategy and innovative coordinator, Mr Jacob Shamuyarira, said there was need to avail more resources to breach the gap between Government’s efforts and that of caregivers to fight drug pandemic.
“There are a lot of success stories that we have through the efforts of the Inter Ministerial Task Force, the treatment and rehabilitation pillar led by the Ministry of Health is undertaking training for specialised health workers,” he said.
“The Government is trying the best towards fighting this problem, but if more resources could be availed by the Treasury that could be great.”
A youth, Tonderai Maphosa, with lived experience of drug and substance abuse, urged youths to find purpose in life and stop using drugs.
“My message to young people who are using drugs is to have self-awareness. You know those places that you must be in,” he said.
“Every time I went to a bar, I got weak and I had to take drugs; you need to cut relationships with people who indulge in drugs. Your conscience should be able to tell you that this is wrong and you need to stop.”
Officiating at the inaugural development conference towards a drug-free nation for the attainment of Vision 2030 at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo, President Mnangagwa said the Government had availed $500 million under the drug and substance abuse mitigation funds to speed up high impact activities in the fight against the drug menace.
He said the activities should reach every corner of Zimbabwe, leaving no one and no place behind.
Online Reporter