JHB2Sosha walk group call for drug rehabilitation to be intensified

The group of volunteers who walked from Joburg. Picture: Jacques Naude African News Agency (ANA)

The group of volunteers who walked from Joburg. Picture: Jacques Naude African News Agency (ANA)

Published Oct 14, 2020

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Pretoria - Participants in the JHB2Sosha walk yesterday called for new strategies and methods to rehabilitate drug users.

They called for the establishment of a halfway house - a centre for rehabilitating former substance users, among others - in Soshanguve.

The Clean Up Squad, an NGO, Heavens Defence Force, Katekani and Royal Funerals joined forces for the walk, which started in Joburg.

They started at 5am in Woodmead, led by the founder of The Clean Up Squad, Khutsi Malala, on a walk aimed at raising awareness about drug abuse and recruiting substance users to volunteer to be rehabilitated.

“The current methods of helping drug users are not working. We expect people who have been smoking drugs for 10 years to quit after seven weeks of rehab, and that just doesn’t make sense. We need to have a more vigorous support system and new strategies,” he said.

On arrival in Pretoria, the group delivered a memorandum to the metro in which they demanded that a halfway house be built in Sosh­an­guve.

They also said drug abuse was spiralling out of control and not much was being done about it.

Malala added that he lived in the townships where people were dying and suffering from drug addiction in increasing numbers while City officials sat in comfortable offices.

“What we are fighting for now is more facilities for rehab to be available because there is just not enough.

“There’s a facility in Cullinan for all of Pretoria, including townships where drug abuse is rife,” he said.

Drug users were usually stigmatised.

Malala strongly advocated for former drug users to get reintegrated into their communities so that their families and the community members could support them in their journey.

The group spent the night at Rearabilwe NPO in Atteridgeville. Today they will walk to the CBD and proceed to Soshanguve, ending up at Royal Funerals in Block AA, where a candlelight-and-prayer ceremony will be held.

Pretoria News

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