The bluetooth nyaope craze is likely to spill over to other townships and we cannot leave government to cope with the crisis, writes Hosia Sithole.
The bluetooth nyaope craze sweeping across Pretoria townships and likely to spill over to other townships in the country is a detonator that could spell doom for the future of many of our young people.
A serious risk the country should prepare itself for is that things such as the bluetooth phenomenon could
easily be emulated elsewhere.
And as this could have a profound impact on our impressionable youth, it must be nipped in the bud before it leaves a trail of destruction.
For a start, the risk of infections resulting from a growing number of nyaope abusers sharing blood to keep each other high will inevitably put enormous pressure on the country’s already burdened health system.
Instead of the youth securing a good future for themselves, they are likely to become the responsibility of the government.
By all accounts, the emergence of drugs such as nyaope is a reflection of the kind of society we have become. In the face of social ills, we have seemingly retreated to the comfort of our homes and washed our hands of whatever is happening outside them.
It is not unless something happens in our homes that we are nudged towards action, but until then we remain unmoved.
What is also unfathomable is that when reports like the bluetooth one surface, our only reaction is to want to mortgage our responsibility as the public to the government to deal with issues that we should be handling ourselves.
The fact is that we cannot leave the government to cope alone with the issue of the abuse of drugs by our youth.
Having said this, one does not want to belittle the role of many people and groups in our society that are working tirelessly to rid our communities of drugs.
For its part, the Department of Water and Sanitation is putting its shoulder to the wheel to ensure that the youth is free from drugs by targeting them at high schools so that they participate in its programmes.
One that continues to have a positive impact is the Aqua Enduro Programme.
This is an innovative programme that was initiated in 2008, aimed at addressing the shortage in the scientific and engineering disciplines within the water sector at grassroots level.
It forms part of the department’s 2020 Vision for Water Education Programme.
It offers pupils the opportunity to obtain bursaries to study a career of their choice in engineering or science in disciplines that contribute to the water sector, should they be one of the winners at the national competition.
In the programme, Grade 11 pupils are engaged in activities that test and challenge their intellectual capabilities. They are exposed to the water sector while having fun.
Last year’s programme, held in Pretoria in December, had a number of activities in which students competed, including mathematics, physical science, biology and chemistry, as well as the South African Institute of Civil Engineers’ Aqualibrium water competition, that puts emphasis on civil engineering design for the water distribution network and minimisation of water losses in supplying our communities.
Despite the success of this programme over the years, the department firmly believes that the challenges posed by drug abuse need a new and insightful response.
What the department is certain about is that the collective wisdom of the public is still needed. It does not see the Aqua Enduro Programme as being applicable to all situations, a panacea for every situation confronting the youth.
Acutely aware that everyone has a role to play in resolving challenges of youth development, the department’s Aqua Enduro Programme focuses specifically on current crises, including substance abuse.
The department is mindful of the fact that the Aqua Enduro Progamme and like-minded programmes can hardly be a magic wand to address all problems facing our youth.
Rather, it believes that its progammes should be context-based and that it should therefore not be tempted to conceive of them as timeless.
The current challenge facing our youth is one that can be resolved if all of us as government, community members and civil society organisations start working together and thinking creatively to bring about a society that cares for its youth.
Burying our heads in the sand and hoping that challenges facing our youth will magically disappear serves no purpose but will only compound the problem.
* Sithole is assistant director at the Department of Water and Sanitation (Gauteng Region).
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.