BATTLING DRUGS FROM OPPOSITE SIDES

Residents living in suburbs often find fault with having informal
settlements so close to their homes, but they could be sharing a
common problem with their makeshift neighbours.

A tour through the greater Strandfontein community recently showed
ratepaying residents and those in informal settlements are both
affected by the drug trade.

Strandfontein is situated on the False Bay side of the Peninsula and
is adjacent to the Strandfontein beach. It lies on the borders of
Mitchell's Plain and Brown's Farm in Philippi, while Pelican Heights
is its neighbour to the west.

According to Strandfontein Police Commissioner Captain June Cilliers,
it's precisely the community's location that has played a large role
in the drug problems.

"The people who are selling these drugs are people who are not from
the area but from our neighbouring communities such as Mitchell's
Plain and Steenberg. They are using our youngsters to push these
drugs," Cilliers said.

"They come here when drug operations are intensified in their areas,
but we've started working together with other police units to curb
this."

Strandfontein is divided into four suburbs: San Remo, Bayview,
Strandfontein Central and Wavecrest. Even these suburbs, home to
middle-class people, each have at least one drug-dealing "hotspot".

Police named them as Frigate Road and Marlin Crescent in Wavecrest,
Trafalgar Road in Strandfontein Central and Matussi Drive in Bayview.

But these are not the only problem areas. The three informal
settlements - Masincendane, City Mission and Opermansoord - that have
mushroomed in Strandfontein in recent years, have also been associated
with drug dealing.

One resident from the suburb, who did not want to be named, said: "You
can see it happen in our neighbourhoods at night. People go into the
bushes and when they come back they are not the same - it's like they
are in a world of their own and this is when you realise the effect of
drugs on our community as a result of these informal
settlements."

But residents at the informal settlement denied that they were a
source for drugs.

Masincedane community leader, Sarie Booi, acknowledged that there had
been a lot of drug dealers in the settlement in the past, but said the
problem had since been stabilised.

"We have a lady that sells dagga here and that is a big problem in our
community because we don't want our children to use drugs. We wanted
to remove her, but she has a little child and we thought she would
have nowhere else to go," he said.

Apart from drugs, both communities face other hurdles.

In the suburbs, the need for sports facilities, a recreational
infrastructure and a community centre is very apparent, but despite
numerous requests to the City of Cape Town, little has come their way.

The community has a basketball court and netball field, but residents
say additional facilities could go a long way to helping keep young
people off the streets.

City councillor for the area, Jeanne Heradien, said: "We have put in
requests (to the city council) because Strandfontein is not really
getting the services it needs. I think that by asking council, they
will have to give it to us sometime."

She also said sports facilities could assist the community in
reversing a "way of life" amongst the youth that was associated with
drugs.

In the informal settlements, area lighting and healthcare are major
concerns.

Although they had just been provided with toilet facilities and
waterpipes by the City of Cape Town, the residents complained of their
dire need of electricity. They said the use of candles had resulted in
a number of shack fires.

Community leaders were also concerned about the increase in the number
of people who were contracting tuberculosis (TB).

"People are getting TB because it is cold here and our houses were
flooded by the rain," said Booi.

"There may be many more people who have TB but have not been tested.
Then there are others who leave their fires burning during the night
because it is cold, and this causes (shack) fires," he said, adding:
"Just the other day a woman was burnt because of this."

Most of the residents in the suburbs are employed by the South African
Navy or the City of Cape Town , and those who are unemployed have
benefited from training programmes initiated by community
organisations.

Staff at the local police station have also trained volunteers as
counsellors and peer educators, who focus on anti-drug awareness
campaigns in schools, counselling for domestic violence survivors and
social welfare programmes designed to uplift the area's less fortunate
residents.

"The people who commit crime in this area are the same people that
don't take part in our campaigns," said Achmat Karim, chairman of the
Strandfontein Community Policing Forum.

"They are the people who want employment to come to them, instead of
them going to look for employment," said Karim.

"This causes a problem because they get involved in drugs and to do
drugs you need money. So that is why the only crimes you find here are
things like house break-ins and car thefts."

But some young people had found alternative ways of staying off the
streets, with many keeping themselves busy on the nearby beach.

Nico Pienaar finds his way to the Strandfontein Beach every afternoon
to go surfing with friends. When asked about the drug problem in the
community, he replied with a smile, "Here is my drug", pointing to his
surfboard.

He said he found the sport stimulating and intended competing at an
international level.

"I think young people should stop making excuses and start living
without using drugs," he said.

"If I can do it then everyone else can."

Cilliers urged the greater Strandfontein community to stop passing the
buck in terms of where the area's drug problem originated and should
rather start fighting the problem "head-on".

"The people who are living in the informal settlement should be
accepted by other residents, because most of them (in the suburbs)
don't know why those people are living there.

"They need to be assisted and that will unveil their potential. They
will then be an advantage to the community rather than a
disadvantage," she said.