Official reply:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION 256/2013
FOR ORAL REPLY
Date of publication on internal question paper: 03 September 2013
Internal question paper no: 29
(256. Ms F E Khumalo (ANC) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
Whether her department intends to assist the SA National Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA) in Eldorado Park to fully furnish
and equip the out-patient facility to operate optimally to serve the
community? NO2739E
REPLY:
Honourable Speaker, the National Department is working with the Provincial
Department and all other departments in Gauteng Province to deal with the
challenges of alcohol and substance abuse in Eldorado Park and other
townships affected by this scourge.
We are working with a rather robust Local Drug Action Committee, which is
bringing together NGOs, CBOs and community members. SANCA in Eldorado Park
is part of this integrated approach and is also part of the Local Drug
Action Committee.
We have identified the need to support a range of NGOs, including SANCA to
provide in-patient and out-patient services, including after care and
reintegration.
Honourable Members, our outreach efforts since President Jacob Zumaâs visit
to Eldorado Park have yielded many positive results. For example, the law
enforcement agencies have closed down a number of drug dens known as "lolly
loungesâ and arrested drug peddlers, including several drug lords.
We have also witnessed a growing number of people who have come forward for
treatment, after care and re-integration services. Honourable Members,
while we commend these new developments and progress made, much more still
needs to be done, not only in Eldorado Park, but throughout the country.
We are using Eldorado Park and other townships in Johannesburg as a model
of intervention in the fight against the scourge of alcohol and substance
abuse and we intend to roll it out to other provinces.
One of our key focus areas this year is to finalise modes of service and
treatment programmes. We are therefore working together with the Local Drug
Action Committee and in partnership with local business in the area to
identifying how best to resource a range of organisations in Eldorado Park.
The SANCA out-patient facility in Eldorado Park will be supported through
this community led process in line with the priorities identified by the
Local Drug Action Committee.
I thank you.