Cape acts on staff substance abuse

Cape Town - City of Cape Town officials estimate that about 10 percent of the 27 000 city employees have an addiction problem, with alcohol and tik abuse the most prevalent.

The city’s corporate services committee has revised the city’s substance abuse policy to take a tougher stance on drug and alcohol abusers, saying if addiction problems spiral out of control it will affect service delivery.

Herman van der Watt, manager of the city’s employee wellness programme, said addiction problems were spread throughout the city’s employment structure.

Alcohol is the prevalent substance abused among employees older than 40 and for employees between 23 and 35 the most common substance is tik.

“The city’s programme is currently mostly treating staff members employed on lower levels due to the fact that many of them have reached chronic stages of addiction that need urgent intervention. Higher level employees may never be seen by our service as they would access private treatment utilising medical aid,” Van der Watt said.

A city report said a large number of work sites were affected by drug and alcohol abuse which led to absenteeism, poor performance, criminal activity and injuries on duty.

The most vulnerable group are employees who work in public places with no close supervision.”

Van der Watt said they were discussing with occupational health and safety labour officials how to implement a screening tool.

The city’s own out-patient programme, Matrix 16 week, was established in July 2011.

Since then, 323 city employees had been referred to the programme and some were referred to in-patient rehabilitation centres.

Of the 323, 154 failed to complete it, 33 were dismissed, two passed away and five employees resigned.

Van der Watt said 114 employees had “disappeared” out of the programme in the past year but still managed to work for the city.

“The employee with the disease of addiction manages to continue to manipulate the manager, the service and also the city to their advantage, they have developed an attitude of entitlement and we often hear that they feel the (Matrix) group gives them ‘free time’ away from work and that they are only doing it to not be fired, thus leading to lip service, manipulation and passive-aggressive behaviour,” Van der Watt added.

DA councillor Courtney van Wyk, from the corporate services committee, said: “The policy addresses a zero-tolerance approach to substance abuse but also looks to provide a healthy and safe environment in line with occupational health legislation. We have to balance between being a caring city and being disciplined.”

Although the city does not have a definite figure of how many people are addicted, Van Wyk said it was clear there was a problem.

The chairman of the corporate services committee, Derrick America, said the policy was stricter but also clearer on the role of city authorities.

- Cape Times

South Africans rush to harvest cannabis plantation

A large cannabis plantation discovered on the outskirts of a South African city reportedly sent locals rushing to the scene to harvest the banned drug.

The field was found growing behind a park in Saulsville, Pretoria West, by residents on Sunday and by Wednesday, it had been virtually stripped of the drug, which is known as "dagga" in South Africa. Only three bushes which were in deep undergrowth and inaccessible remained.

One man, 32, who did not want to be named, told South Africa's Times newspaper he filled two refuse bags with the drug. "I am set for at least a year if I smoke alone," he said. "All I need now is a concealed spot where I can dry it."

Another man, who said he did not smoke the drug himself, said he filled a 25-litre bucket for his friends and relatives who were smokers.

According to the newspaper, the city's police have destroyed two other large cannabis plantations, each the size of a rugby field, in recent years.

The destroyed fields had a potential harvest with an estimated street value of around R5 million.

Possession of cannabis in South Africa is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. (The Telegraph)

Anti-Drug Alliance of SA raises the white flag. The war is lost. The drugs won.

Quintin van Kerken, the Anti-Drug Alliance of SA's CEO, said: 

"It is clear that the war against drugs is lost.

"We see more and more [drug] dealers are on the streets every day.

"There would not be so many drug dealers if there were not so many drug users.

"The fact is that we have lost the war and all that the government is doing is spending billions on catching a few criminals who are trafficking large amounts of drugs," he said.

Van Kerken said the best solution at this stage would be to legalise or decriminalise certain drugs.
He said that most of the social workers, councillors and magistrates it consulted agreed with the concept of legalisation, albeit in " hushed tones or behind closed doors". (Timeslive)

Teens selling sex for alcohol

Schoolgirls are selling their bodies beside illegal shebeens to earn money for alcohol.

Some teens as young as 16 openly admit to prostituting themselves to “sugar daddies” for cash.

The shocking revelation follows a Daily Voice investigation into the rise of underage drinking during the festive season.

Some girls confess that they turn to dirty old men who buy them alcohol in exchange for sex - because they cannot get money from their cash-strapped parents.

One 17-year-old Samora Machel resident, known only as Nthabiseng, says it’s easier to get money from guys at a shebeen than from her family.

“My parents don’t know that I drink so I get money from the guys I meet while I’m out partying,” she tells the Daily Voice.

“I don’t drink every day but I go out on weekends with my friends for some fun.

“We dress up and go out with just enough money for the first round of drinks because we know we will meet some guys there who are going to buy us some more.

“We’ll start dancing and chatting with them and then the drinks will come.

“It then means after partying we go somewhere and have sex.

“Usually it’s in the car or out in the bush.

“We don’t go to their houses.”

Some shebeen owners admit allowing teenagers into their drinking dens.

But they say they cannot always keep track of who they hang around with or leave the premises with at the end of the night.

“I’ve had my shebeen open for about five years now and I don’t usually sell alcohol to minors,” Phumla Madizeni, 40, tells the Daily Voice.

“Obviously these young ones try their luck sometimes to try and get in here - but I chase them away.

“But there are those who ask to stay and I let them because I know them.

“They come in to buy their beers and their ciders - I never ask where they get their money from.

“The younger ones usually come in groups, but I don’t interfere.

“The only time I ask questions, it’s for their age and when I tell them to leave when they start getting too drunk.”

The Daily Voice team witnessed groups of skimpily-dressed teenage girls openly drinking on the streets and dancing around drunk on the road.

And when the sun went down, the skirts got shorter - and the shorts even shorter.

Nthabiseng says the girls wear short skirts to attract more men.

“Guys only notice the girls with short dresses on and make-up,” she tells the Daily Voice.

“We dress up to look older so that we don’t get thrown out.”

Statistics released by the South African Breweries (SAB) earlier this year revealed that one in two teenagers in South Africa drink or has been drunk.

Many shebeen owners say they try to keep the teenagers out of their taverns by demanding to see IDs at the entrance.

But they admit it is hard to keep track of everyone on a busy day.

“Schoolgirls sometimes knock here at 6am while in uniform to buy beer. They often get very upset when I refuse to sell to them,” Babalwa Kenqa, 43, says.

“Once they are drunk, they have no respect for the elders, they stagger here down the road with older men shouting and screaming.”  (from IOL)

No space for baby

HOMELESS people in the Cape Town suburb of Table View have found a safe place tostore their valuables.

Unfortunately their storage facility is a special safe fitted with a hi-tech alarm system intended for desperate mothers to leave their babies if they cannot care for them.

The homeless, often referred to in the Cape as ''bergies'', have caused endless nightmares for Kim Highfield, the founder of Baby Save, which is geared at reducing the high number of abandoned babies in the province.

Last year, she had the safe mounted on to a wall of a church building in Table View. The metal structure is lined with a baby blanket and a pillow.

Once a baby is placed in the safe, an alarm is set off and within seconds Highfield receives an SMS.

Five minutes later Highfield is there to collect the baby and is always ready to help the mother.

Shortly after the project was launched in May last year, the bergies started causing trouble.

"The West Coast Family Centre very kindly said they would open the gates so the mother could walk in," said Highfield. "Instead, bergies moved in at night and their presence scared mothers away. They think the safe is a drawer to store their blankets, booze, clothing and toiletries. Sometimes they have heavy haversacks. Anything over 1.5kg lets off a signal and I get an SMS," she said.

I cannot not go. What if there is a baby there? I can't always assume it is them putting their wine and bedding in the safe."

Because of the problem, she was only able to help four babies.

Highfield will set up a similar project in the suburb of Muizenberg next year and hopes the Table View project can be saved.

Melany Kühn, spokesman for the MEC of social development, Albert Fritz, had harsh messages for the vagrants and advice for mothers.

"We strongly condemn this action by vagrants as it could eventually lead to a call not being responded to under the assumption that it's just another false alarm," said Kühn. We also appeal to mothers to seek any and all available help rather than dispose of their babies on rubbish heaps or dirt bins. This is tantamount to murder or attempted murder." (From Timeslive)

New shock for drunk drivers.

 Tell tale signs of drunk driving, and not blood tests, will be enough to land motorists in trouble with the law as the authorities seek new ways to crack down on the problem before the festive season.

Now, the authorities announced in a joint show of force on Friday, they will turn back to an existing charge of “driving under the influence of alcohol” - rather that the more commonly used “driving with a blood alcohol limit over the legal limit”, which necessitates blood testing - which means drunk drivers could be fined up to R180 000, or face as long as nine years behind bars.

Blood tests are not necessary to secure such a conviction, traffic authorities, police and prosecutors confirmed during a press conference yesterday, which was hosted by the provincial traffic department, the provincial police and the National Prosecuting Authority.

With roadblocks planned across the province during the holiday season, traffic officials will instead be looking out for the telltale signs of inebriation – unsteadiness and an inability to perform simple tasks, such as walking in a straight line or picking up a bunch of keys.

The NPA’s Mark Wakefield said that instead of simply sending suspects for blood tests, traffic officers at roadblocks would primarily search for signs of drunk driving, to use as evidence in court.

The news has, however, already prompted a top criminal attorney and a forensic expert to warn that relying on the observations of law enforcement officials to determine sobriety could be risky.

William Booth warned the authorities that their change of tack would not be without its challenges. There could be a number of innocent explanations for behaviour which could be construed as drunkenness, he argued.

Forensic expert Dr David Klatzow agreed, pointing out that the rate at which alcohol was absorbed differed between people. The observations of law enforcement officials, including that a suspect’s eyes were bloodshot or he was unsteady, would also not be able to stand up in court when challenged by a skilled cross-examiner.

Klatzow’s view was that authorities should instead focus on ensuring that forensic laboratories, which test blood samples, work efficiently.

Over the past five years traffic officials have arrested 800 to 1 000 motorists a month for offences related to drinking and driving.

To date, the NPA has had a 90 percent conviction rate.

David Frost, head of traffic management in the Western Cape government, said more than 30 000 of the 31 323 blood samples sent for testing returned positive.

The change in focus comes about two months after a Western Cape High Court judge found that the State had not proved the blood test results in a drunk driving case, because it hadn’t followed proper procedures. (from IOL)

McNamara wants drugs charges withdrawn

Former Western Cape government official Dave McNamara wants drug possession charges against him dropped, the Cape Town Magistrate's Court heard on Friday.

His attorney William Booth said he had been instructed by his client to ask the National Prosecutions Authority to withdraw the charges.

Booth said he and prosecutor Leon Snyman had agreed that McNamara would avail himself to DNA tests in order to complete the investigation.

He was arrested in June last year at inner city apartments in Cape Town after he was found in possession of the drug tik, and a broken bottle-neck used to inhale the substance.

Booth said tests had already been done on the bottle-neck, but that prosecutors now required more tests from McNamara.

At the time of his arrest, McNamara, 48, was the provincial director for community development and spearheaded programmes to combat drug abuse.

He was to have faced a disciplinary hearing, but resigned before it could take place.

Booth said McNamara agreed to submit to a second round of tests provided that his own private DNA experts could examine the test results.

“We all need finality in this matter as it has been pending for some time,” he said.

Magistrate Nadia Bonwari postponed the case to February 13, and McNamara's bail was extended. - Sapa

State seeks match with DNA on tik lolly

Cape Town - The State intends matching the DNA found on drug paraphernalia with that of former Western Cape Social Welfare Services chief director Dave McNamara, allegedly found in possession of the items last year.

Prosecutor Leon Snyman told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday that the forensic laboratory has been asked to analyse the tik lolly and seven packets containing tik residue allegedly confiscated from McNamara. A DNA profile had been compiled and it had to be compared with McNamara’s DNA.

McNamara, who was in charge of all social workers in the province and the Social Development Department’s programmes against drugs, resigned in September, his lawyer, William Booth, confirmed. McNamara was arrested after police stopped him at a filling station in Orange Street and found a tik lolly and seven packets on him.

McNamara had been expected to go on trial on Thursday, but Booth had written to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to have the charges dropped.

Booth told the court Snyman had informed him the representations were unsuccessful. Booth said the DPP had explained why the submissions had been turned down, in a bundle of 20 to 25 pages.

On the DNA tests, Booth said he was concerned the tik lolly and small packets were contaminated. He noted that they had been tested in July last year. Snyman said if the defence did not co-operate with the investigating officer and allow a DNA sample to be taken, the State would seek an order forcing him to comply. Booth replied: “I indicated the item could be contaminated, not that we do not wish to co-operate.”

The matter was adjourned until November 23.

- Cape Argus

Pupils flocks to CBD drug hub

Cape Town’s Grand Parade and station deck in the CBD have become drug havens for school children, say taxi drivers, shopkeepers and security guards working in the area.

While pupils at city schools commute daily, they weave their way between drug dealers who openly offer and sell them drugs. And the youngsters freely admit that whatever their drug of choice, they’ll get it there.

They arrive in numbers after 2pm, according to security guards working in the area, who describe the pupils as “a real headache”.

And the trade is continuing unabated, even though police spokesman Warrant Officer November Filander said the Cape Town central police arrest about 180 suspects every month for possession of and dealing in drugs.

In addition, he said, regular integrated and clandestine operations were held on the station deck and the Grand Parade, “with good success”.

Amanda, a 17-year-old pupil at a city high school, told Weekend Argus this week that tik and unga were “very easy” to get in the area.

“You just know who to go to, and there’s no way that they will not have it. It all happens here at the Parade. Sometimes it’s a matter of sitting down at the bus terminus, as if you’re waiting for a bus, and the dealer will come and you do the exchange.”

She arrived by bus about 9am, smoked for about an hour, then went on to school.

“If you tell them [at school] the bus was late there’s no way they won’t let you in,” she said, explaining that she and seven friends clubbed together to buy cocktails, a mixture of unga and dagga, which they smoked daily.

“My grandmother gives me R50 for the week. My friends and I club together and one of the boys goes to buy for us. We either smoke and go to school, or we just roam around town trying to get more money to buy more,” Amanda said, adding that she began smoking unga when she was in Grade 8.

Another city school pupil, 18-year-old Keagan, said he became hooked after being given a “special cigarette”

by a dealer.

“It’s very addictive. They just call school children and say ‘come look’. The next thing you know you’re the one calling them.

“It’s quick to buy, and you don’t feel like the dealers want to hurt you because it all happens in public,” he said.

Taxi drivers said they often tried to get police to intervene, but claimed they were told to chase the drug dealers away from the station deck themselves.

“Look at them. They’re selling tik right now, in front of us. We chased them away and now there is a new group of foreigners selling tik to everyone. These children buy from them and smoke here near the taxi lines,” one driver said.

“The few times that dealers do get caught they swallow the tik, because they keep it in their mouths, or they pay the police or law enforcement to let them go,” he said.

Asked whether the police were aware of allegations of pay-offs in exchange for leaving dealers to trade freely, Filander said they were not. He added that any allegations of misconduct or corruption against police officers would be investigated, with disciplinary action and suspension to follow where relevant.

One Grand Parade shopkeeper said some school children used a nearby payphone to contact dealers in the vicinity.

“They call their dealers and find out where to meet them. School starts at 8am but around 9.30 there are children here walking around aimlessly. You can see what’s going on, I don’t know why the police can’t pick it up,” she said.

The security guards added that sometimes when they tried to chase children away, they sat with the homeless people who frequented the area.

“It would be easier to solve this if we were working with police,” one security guard said.

Filander said that while they took the allegations “very seriously”, they could do little without statements and sufficient evidence.

“Our railway stations are being monitored and patrolled by railway police and other law enforcement personnel on a daily basis, and we do make a lot of drug arrests.

“Metrorail security guards are also being sensitised to be on the lookout for any illegal activities that might occur on trains and on the railway platforms,” he added.

Asked to comment, Community Safety MEC

Dan Plato said he would raise the issue as “a matter of urgency” with provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer.

“The City Improvement District, together with SAPS and the metro police, have been extremely effective in curbing drug-related crime across the city over the past 10 years.

“I will be asking the SAPS, City Improvement District and metro police to join me on a walkabout of the area, so that we can talk to the informal traders and gather more information on this situation,” Plato said. - Weekend Argus

Pregnant and drinking… on purpose

Cape Town - Reports of teenage girls drinking heavily while pregnant so their babies are born with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), so they will qualify for disability grants, has prompted research into this phenomenon.

Leana Olivier, CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research, said reports had been received that some young women in the Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality were “drinking heavily so their babies can be born with FAS, enabling them to qualify for a R1 200 disability grant rather than the R280 child grant”.

While such cases have not been reported in the Western Cape - known for its high FAS rate - the foundation has learnt that some pregnant women in the province drink heavily in the hope of aborting unwanted babies.

“There seems to be a developing trend to drink to kill the unborn baby or cause harm to get grants… [which] suggests foetal alcohol syndrome may be much bigger than research has established. In some provinces the problem seems… bigger than HIV/Aids,” Olivier said.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry says SA is among the top 10 countries for alcohol spending, forking out about R10 billion a year.

According to Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Elizabeth Thabethe, while liquor trading contributed a lot in expanding the country’s economy, alcohol use had been blamed on a range of problems, including health, trauma, damage to infrastructure, social impact, and other economic costs.

While many associated FAS with poverty, unemployment and other socio-economic problems, Olivier said anecdotal reports from the private sector suggested that even those in the middle and upper class socio economic groups were affected by FAS.

Olivier blamed this on mixed messages sometimes given by doctors that suggested one glass a day of alcohol, such as wine, was acceptable during pregnancy.

Through interventions such as the Healthy Mother Healthy Baby programme - which encourages women to give up harmful substances during pregnancy - the incidence of FAS in the Northern Cape had dropped by 30 percent.

Adrian Botha, spokesman for the Association for Responsible Alcohol Use, said there was no evidence indicating how much alcohol would cause FAS.

“We believe it is not safe to consume any alcohol during pregnancy,” he said.

- Cape Argus

New drug arrest record for Western Cape

The newly released crime statistics indicates a record number of drug related arrests for the Western Cape.  The new record is the eighth year in succession showing an increase:

2004 30 432
2005 34 788
2006 41 067
2007 45 985
2008 52 781
2009 60 409
2010 70 588
2011 77 069

413 119 arrests in 9 years in the Western Cape. What are the cumulative totals of the other provinces for the past 9 years?

Eastern Cape 60000
Gauteng 121000 
KwaZulu Natal 215000
Northern Cape 18000
Mpumelanga 18000
North West 51500
Limpopo 27000
Free State 37500
Total number of drug arrests for the rest of the country: 548 898

The Western Cape is "responsible" for 43% of the drug crime committed around the country. If drugs really do cause crime or lead to it then other crimes should similarly be raised, yet they are not. Res ipsa loquitur. Drugs doesn't cause crime, because IF it did the Western Cape's crime statistics would be far worse than they are.  (from SAPS)

Here come the pictures

South Africa is aiming to follow Australia's lead and compel tobacco companies to use plain packaging for their tobacco products, MPs heard on Wednesday.
 
"We will... be testing plain packaging... (which) means there will be no branding on tobacco products," health department director for health promotion Vimla Moodley said.
 
Briefing members of Parliament's health portfolio committee on proposed new smoking regulations, she said the department was also testing the use of "pictorials" on tobacco packaging.
 
These were pictures of the "health consequences" of smoking.
 
"Up to now, the regulations allowed for text messages (showing) health warnings, for example 'tobacco is harmful to your health'.
 
"But in terms of international guidelines... we need to introduce pictorials, which are pictures of health consequences on tobacco products." (There are no international guidelines - this is nonsense)
 
The department was currently testing pictorials, and the health messages that went with them, in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
 
Reports on these would be completed by December this year.
 
On the introduction of laws compelling tobacco manufacturers to use plain, non-branded packaging, Moodley noted that Australia had recently done this.
 
"We are keen to test this and if there is... support for it, we will go this route," she said.
 
Australia's plain-packaging laws were fiercely opposed by tobacco companies, but the manufacturers received a set-back last month when the country's highest court endorsed the new regulations, which are set to take effect on December 1 this year.
 
Speaking after the briefing, Moodley said the new South African regulations - which are still subject to review - could be ready by as early as next year.
 
The proposed regulations also seek to ban smoking in public places and "certain outdoor places".
 
Moodley told the committee that current regulations allow 25% of the floor space in a restaurant or an indoor facility be designated a smoking area.
 
"With this set of regulations... indoor public spaces will now be 100% smoke free... Those places will no longer have a space for indoor public tobacco use."
 
Other areas the department was seeking to make 100% smoke free included "entrances to public spaces, outdoor eating and drinking areas, health facilities, schools, child-care facilities, covered walkways and in stadiums", she said.
 
According to a document tabled at the briefing, so-called "smoking prevalence" in South Africa is declining, though about 44 400 deaths in the country each year are "related directly to tobacco". (from News24)

Government commission recommends semi-legalisation of cannabis

A Government commission has recommended that Rastafarians be allowed to carry on them at least 100g of cannabis for spiritual reasons without prosecution.

The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, says the Ministry of Police also needs to reclassify the 1911 ban on dagga in South Africa.

The recommendations have been submitted to various government departments including education, justice and constitutional development and communications.

The Commission says they aim to engage Government departments in order to change the perception that society has on the religion and to build tolerance for Rastafarians.

The Rasta community says they feel ignored and that their religion is disregarded because some people do not understand them. They claim to be harassed daily because of their spiritual path.
 
Some of the recommendations made is that the Ministry of Police allows the Rastafarians to carry, on them, at least 100g of cannabis. They are also calling on the media to change the way they portray their religion.
 
They have also called on Police to end alleged harassment and prejudice against Rastas. (from SABCNews)

The war on drugs on children

Police, metro police and other law enforcement officers swarmed a school in Khayelitsha on Thursday during an unannounced visit to search pupils for drugs and weapons.

Several minutes passed before they actually started searching the classrooms at Bulumko Secondary and by then pupils were already aware of their presence.

With the help of sniffer dogs, 11 classrooms were searched. Girls and boys were searched separately and no drugs or weapons were found.

The search was arranged following an increase in gang violence among the youth in Khayelitsha over the past few months.

Education MEC Donald Grant said the incidents of violence had occurred outside school premises, after school hours.

“At Bulumko Secondary there have been a number of incidents of violence between learners belonging to different gangs after school. In other cases learners from rival gangs and from other schools have been involved.”

He said gang violence had also affected after-school study programmes for Grade 12 pupils: “At one stage learner attendance at these programmes was low. Learners expressed fear of being attacked while walking home from these programmes.”

Grant said the Western Cape Education Department had several discussions with the police on the matter and had asked for increased patrolling after school hours.

Grant said the Department of Community Safety had employed three field workers to implement a six-month life skills training programme at schools in high-risk gang areas.

Principal Bernard Hlongwane said knives had been found during previous searches.

Grant’s spokeswoman Bronagh Casey said he was disappointed to see that some children were not in class when the police arrived at the school.

Some pupils were looking out the windows and were not participating in classroom activities. (What were they expecting arriving with the police and sniffer dogs?)

Casey said Grant had asked the district office to investigate why these pupils were not participating in classroom activities.

“Learners are to remain in their classrooms at all times during a search and seizure operation, unless a specific class is being targeted. In this instance, male learners are asked to line up outside the classrooms, while female learners remain inside. If properly managed, all learners should have been in their classrooms before, during and after the police arrived.”

Hlongwane said he was not aware that pupils had not been participating in class activities, adding that he wasn’t sure if this was because they had seen the convoy of police arriving. (DUH!). (from IOL)

Sniffer dogs are no good at sniffing out weapons. The police found NOTHING. Otherwise we would have read all about it in the report? If the police had found some flick knives and pangas we would be reading all about the brewing gang war in Khayelitsha. Young black children are still people. Being searched like they are all criminals is humiliating, degrading, invading their privacy and ultimately disgusting. Why were the press invited onto the school premises? Why were the press allowed to take photos of the children like the one above which appeared on IOL? The answer to that question is that it was a PUBLIC RELATIONS EXERCISE. WHO asked the press to attend a search of a school? The principal? The police? The press?

Searches of school grounds is supposed to occur in terms of s45A of the Western Cape Provincial Schools Act as amended. .

Cape Town to spend R20 million on fighting drugs

The City of Cape Town plans to set aside R20 million to crack down on gangs and the drug trade, it was reported on Thursday.

The Cape Times reported that this budget was four times the amount spent in 2011.

Safety and Security mayoral committee member JP Smith said the SA Police Service's response to the gang crisis showed a low conviction rate.

He had decided to bolster the city's six-member gang task force to fourteen members in the coming weeks.

According to the report, the unit had made 143 drug and gang-related arrests since its creation in December.

Community safety MEC Dan Plato said specialised units had proven to be an effective strategy "to investigate, detect arrest and ensure successful convictions". (from TimesLive)