Hon Speaker, after 20 years of drug crisis in South Africa, we are very pleased indeed that the President is finally focusing on this issue. Unfortunately, the President's words ring hollow, given that since the Narcotics Bureau was disbanded along with all other specialised units, as a policy decision by the former Police Commissioner Selebi in 2004, drug-related crimes have increased exponentially, by 181%.
This is why the DA-run City of Cape Town established specialised Gang and Substance Abuse Units. However, it is essential that a designated antidrug unit within the SA Police Service be reinstated countrywide. Can the President tell this House why the government has failed to reopen the Narcotics Bureau, when it will be re-established, and, if it has been decided that it will not be re-established, why on earth not?