Story by Providence Maraneli
MATABELELAND South has intensified the fight against drug and substance abuse amid revelations that school children as young as 10 years are now abusing drugs.
In an African society, it is believed that a boy child is born to take over the reigns when his father departs, and it is from the belief that parents invest much in their sons to equip them with life skills.
What is then expected from this son is traits that resemble someone who can head a family.
But what a family in the Vumbachikwe mine compound in Gwanda is looking at is not only a son who might fail to take over from his father but who is bent on destroying everything the family holds dearest.
He has joined an unfortunate crop of youths who are into drugs and has turned violent beating the very parents that made him.
“I am very much pained, I invested a lot in this boy, sending him to school and doing literally everything for him, but it’s now gone, my son is gone, we have tried everything we can but it’s very difficult. He is so violent, he can beat all of us. We need help,” said the father.
The mother said, “I don’t know what to do, he can start beating everyone at the house, or he can sleep for two days without eating, I am devastated. The government has to help us, the people who are selling these to our children are known. He has sold everything here, the phones and other home equipment, we no longer have power over him.”
Matabeleland South has set up a committee to deal with the menace and protect the bonds of family.
“The fight against drug and substance abuse calls for all our collective efforts, if we are to win against the pandemic, there is a real need for stakeholders from the government, development partners, community cadres, parents, security forces and chiefs to be proactive,” said Minister of State for Matabeleland South provincial affairs and devolution, Dr Evelyne Ndlovu.
With the country still dusting itself from the horrors of COVID-19, there is a consensus that drug and substance abuse scourge needs to be dealt with decisively.
National Committee on Drugs and Substance Abuse member, Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu said, “Drug and substance abuse is now one of the top-ranking disasters wreaking havoc in many societies around the world and Zimbabwe is not spared. As the national task force, we will leave no stone unturned in its vicious fight against drug and substance abuse.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa established the inter-ministerial committee in April 2022 to deal with the drug and substance abuse scourge.
