Johannesburg - The Gauteng government is taking the fight against drugs to coloured communities, Gauteng Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane said on Tuesday.
"Over the past few months we have camped in coloured communities, targeting schools, and engaging young people about the dangers of abusing drugs," she told reporters.
They had been able to make arrests with the help of these young people, she said ahead of a sitting of the provincial legislature. It was due to debate a motion of no confidence in Gauteng Premier David Makhura.
Nkosi-Malobane was providing a detailed plan for her department following Makhura’s State of the Province Address last Monday.
She said the province was struggling to reduce the murder rate.
"Murder is still a stubborn crime."
Out of the 142 police stations in the province, 41 contributed to over 51% of the crime statistics in the province, she said.
Efforts to reduce crime in the areas serviced by those stations would include getting station managers and area commanders to account for their performance each month, and holding monthly meetings with station commanders.
Makhura had made a commitment to meet them every second month, she said.
An anti-drug task team had been established to combat the demand for and supply of drugs in the province. So far it had arrested 505 people and secured 265 convictions.
Following xenophobic violence in Rosettenville, Johannesburg and Tshwane, Nkosi-Malobane urged people not to take the law into their own hands. Residents had claimed that Nigerians were responsible for drug dealing and prostitution.
"It's not a fight against drugs, it’s just criminality."
Three people were arrested in Rosettenville, 36 in Tshwane, and 12 in Johannesburg on charges ranging from assault to carrying a deadly weapon.