Story by Gay Matambo
COMMUNITIES and families in Masvingo Province have been called upon to unite in the escalating fight against drug and substance abuse, a national crisis that is steadily robbing Zimbabwe’s youth of their potential and threatening the country’s social fabric.
The appeal was made during the Masvingo Provincial Drug and Substance Abuse Awareness Campaign held on Thursday, where ordinary citizens, health professionals, law enforcement, and political leaders joined forces to confront the scourge.
Among those who attended was Mrs Munyamani, a grieving mother who has turned her personal tragedy into a mission to save others. Her son’s life was cut short by drug addiction, a reality she painfully recounted.
“My son started abusing drugs, I think, because of peer pressure. We used to see him intoxicated always, and he would become violent. I used to get him arrested, but I noticed that it was not a solution. I took him to Ngomahuru, and one day, we were told that he had died. I do not know what happened.
“It’s painful to lose a child due to drugs, but I am now assisting his friends who are into drugs so that they stop. People who sell drugs should be removed from society, and I urge the government to punish those people because they are destroying the future of the country,” she said.
Several speakers who attended the campaign acknowledge that the fight against drug and substance abuse is a collective responsibility.
“We continue to capacitate our health care providers to enable them to assess, diagnose, and offer quality health services to these clients at all levels of care. This year alone, a total of 271 patients were admitted for drug abuse, while 13 were admitted for alcohol dependency at Ngomahuru hospital,” Masvingo Provincial Medical Director, Dr Amedious Shamhu said.
“One in every 30 households is struggling with drug and substance abuse, and we also have around 43% of the national population struggling with drugs. These are statistics from 2017, and these have risen to 57% by 2019. It is important to note that about 60% of our psychiatric admissions across the nation are attributed to drug and substance abuse,” ZPCS Provincial Medical Officer, Dr Douitie Chiwororo said.
“People who are abusing drugs are actually victims of drug peddlers who are profiting from the vulnerability of these youths. Therefore, our fight is not against our young people, but it is to protect our future generations and guard jealously the prosperity of our country,” ZRP Assistant Commissioner Crime and Operations, Assistant Commissioner Peter Sibanda said.
Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Honourable Ezra Chadzamira, issued a stern warning to peddlers, traffickers, and suppliers of drugs in Masvingo, while calling upon communities to embrace reintegration and rehabilitation programmes.
“You young people here are the future leaders of tomorrow; if you destroy your future abusing drugs, you are destroying the country. It’s everyone’s mandate here to ensure that those who sell drugs to young people are reprimanded. We need to treat social protection of our youth not as optional but as an enabler of the development trajectory,” he said.
Since January this year, the Zimbabwe Republic Police in Masvingo Province has arrested over 150 people for drug and substance abuse-related crimes.
