Zim sets up committee on drug abuses

BUSINESS REPORTER

Government has set up a committee on the elimination of drug and substance abuses amid rising cases of the scourge.

Defence and War Veterans Affairs minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri will chair the National Committee on the Elimination of Drug and Substance Abuse. She will be deputised by Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage minister Kazembe Kazembe.

In a post Cabinet briefing yesterday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the Cabinet was deeply concerned that the drug and substance abuse scourge in Zimbabwe has reached levels, which are “wreaking havoc” in families and threatening the core of societal norms and values.

“Most of the dangerous drugs and substances being abused are imported, with the traffickers acting in cahoots with local drug lords and an array of criminal elements in our society,” Mutsvangwa said.

The committee, she said, will be empowered to come up with systematic and sustainable responses that will assist in ensuring that society is free of drug and substance abuse.

Cabinet agreed that the Committee would use the time-tested framework, which is already operational and is divided into three segments, namely: search and rescue; rehabilitate; and promote resilience and sustainability, Mutsvangwa said.

At a community level, the committee will be chaired by traditional leaders and will include school heads, religious and faith based organisation leaders, social welfare workers; nurses in charge of rural clinics; village health workers, and other relevant persons at that level.

At the district level, district development coordinators will chair the committee.

At the provincial level, Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution will co-ordinate the activities of the committee.

Mutsvangwa said the national committee would coordinate the entire Clean-up campaign on drug and substance abuse.

In his Independence Day speech on Tuesday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the aim of a “drug-free Zimbabwe” could only be attained with the involvement of the whole community, beginning at the family level. The Zimbabwe Republic Police and other security agencies remain seized with the elimination of this scourge and other violent crimes, he said.