Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
VICE PRESIDENT Dr Kembo Mohadi has called for increased investment in drug rehabilitation and counselling centres across the country to save the youth and families from the scourge of drug and substance abuse, saying culture should be used as a weapon against the vice.
He made the call while officiating at the inaugural Tshiṱaudze Heritage Festival at Tshiṱaudze Cultural Village in Mpande, Beitbridge, on Sunday.
The festival was held from 25 to 27 September to celebrate TshiVenda, Sesotho, VhaLemba and Shangani cultures through dance, food, crafts and oral history.
Addressing thousands of villagers, traditional leaders, learners and Government officials, VP Mohadi said Zimbabwe was facing a drug epidemic that cuts across all age groups and directly threatens the heritage the country is working to preserve.
“Fellow Zimbabweans, allow me to make a special appeal. The scourge of drugs and substance abuse — mbanje, crystal meth (mutoriro, guka), illicit brews like musombodhiya, cough syrups — is destroying our heritage across all ages. It is no longer just a youth problem. We see fathers, mothers, and even grandparents trapped,” he said.
VP Mohadi said a community that is intoxicated cannot protect its culture.
“A high community cannot protect its culture. A drunk elder cannot teach TshiVenda proverbs. A mother lost to drugs cannot conduct Domba lessons. A young man on mutoriro cannot dance Tshikona or work the fields,” added VP Mohadi.
He said the drug epidemic was eroding the environment, breaking families and fuelling gender-based violence, crime, teenage pregnancies and school drop-outs, describing it as cultural sabotage.
The Vice President said that while the Government had intensified its national anti-drug campaign, there was a need to move beyond enforcement and invest in prevention through counselling, rehabilitation and cultural mentorship structures.
He singled out traditional initiation schools as safe mentorship spaces where elders can teach life skills, reproductive health and self-respect, and urged that they be modernised to keep children away from drugs and early marriages.
VP Mohadi charged traditional leaders with leading the fight by reactivating village surveillance through traditional court systems to identify and expel drug peddlers, using customary law to sanction homesteads that harbour drug dens, and using sacred teachings to reconnect the youth to spirituality and the environment.
“The Traditional Leaders Act mandates you to maintain cultural values and public order. I charge you to work with police, the media, community radio stations like Lotsha FM 90.1 (in Beitbridge), schools and clinics to create Drug-Free Chiefdoms. Without discipline, there is no heritage to preserve,” he said.
He said cultural festivals like Tshiṱaudze were aligned with the Government’s Revised National Arts, Culture and Heritage Policy, the National Youth Policy and Vision 2030, which seeks modernisation anchored on identity, values and Ubuntu.
