HELEN ZILLE JOINS BELHAR RESIDENTS IN ANTI-DRUG VIGIL

Hundreds of Belhar residents took to the streets on Thursday night to
protest against drug dealers operating in their community.

DA leader and Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille had been invited and joined them.

Fed up with the scourge of drugs in their community, residents staged
a march and vigil outside suspected tik dens.

They brandished placards and chanted outside homes of wo alleged drug
dealers in St Vincent Drive.

Zille has pledged the DA's support to those communities ravaged by
drug abuse and related crime.

The Belhar community initiative started two months ago when residents
decided to take action against a drug dealer they claim had confessed
to selling tik to children from his house in Russel Crescent.

A resident said that after numerous peaceful night vigils outside his
house, the drug dealer had agreed to stop selling the drug.

Belhar resident Shireen Nordien said she had organised the first
vigil in June after she had "had enough" of the dealers in the area.

She said she lived next door to the drug dealer and after her and her
neighbours had taken action "it has been quiet".

"We've taken back our homes, now our children can play outside
again," she said.

Zille and her DA colleagues, MPL Lennit Max and Belhar ward
councillor Desmond Jafthar, led the community from the back of a van,
and were followed by a community brass band from Kalksteenfontein.

"The Belhar community did not just talk - they did something," Zille
told residents.