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Yesterday’s release of the 2010/11 crime statistics clearly highlights the failure of the SAPS to address South Africa’s drug problem. With a 10.2% national increase in drug related crimes the SAPS need to acknowledge that the growing drugs epidemic requires specialized intervention. I have written to the Minister of Police, and to the President himself, to request that the Narcotics Bureau be re-instated as a matter of urgency.
Currently drug operations are conducted by the SAPS and the Hawks, with no specialised units or operations in either to co-ordinate activity in combating drugs. In 2004, the now discredited Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi shut down the Narcotics Bureau that had been successful in tackling drug-related crimes. In addition, under the Scorpions, which were disbanded in 2009, there was a trans-national drug trafficking unit. The Hawks have no dedicated drug-fighting mandate.
The increasing incidence of drug trafficking, drug addiction and drug related crime has a profoundly negative impact on our social fabric. It is tearing families apart, lowering productivity and contributing to slow economic growth and joblessness. Drug trafficking is a crime of a global nature, with drugs flowing from South Africa into Europe and North America. It is also related to other international crimes like human trafficking and terrorism. South Africa is fast becoming known as a global hub of the illegal narcotics trade. As evidenced by the 2008 World Drug Report, released by the United Nations.
The SA Narcotics Bureau managed to keep the situation under control through specialised intelligence and units focused solely on combating drug syndicates, working in co-operation with other intelligence organisations in South Africa and other countries. Yet, the Bureau was inexplicably shut down.
Despite the pandemic current police commissioner has made no effort to re-instate the unit, we therefore have no option but to call on the Minister and the President to reinstate the Narcotics Bureau as a matter of national urgency. We have to stem the tide before our country is engulfed in a drug tsunami.