Cape Town - Crime fighters have raised the alarm over the use of cocaine among children on the Cape Flats after an eight-year-old boy from Elsies River was found high on the drug.
The shocking case was spotted by Leonsdale ward councillor, Franchesca Walker, last week, who says community workers who tried to assist the child were left dumbfounded when the boy tested positive for four types of drugs including cocaine.
While the white powder-like substance has been a popular drug of choice in more affluent communities, arrests across townships like Langa have shown a cheaper variant being sold.
Walker tells the Weekend Argus she became aware of the situation when the child’s worried grandmother approached her for help.
“I was working in my ward when the granny approached me and said her eight-year-old grandson had gone missing. I searched and searched but could not find him.
“Later in the day, while working in a different part of Leonsdale, the community workers spotted him and I tried to speak to him when I realised something was wrong.”
The child was taken to Tehillah Centre where he underwent a drug test and tested positive and social workers were notified.
Sister Magda Kleyn, CEO of the centre, says the alarming discovery prompted the team to probe the matter further. They were shocked to discover children were able to buy cocaine for as little as R20.
“He tested positive for mandrax, tik, heroin and cocaine and we were very very shocked. We looked further into this and found that the teachers at local schools and parents are at their wits’ end with the drug use among children in Leonsdale, but the cocaine is becoming a very big concern.
“We found out that the children are able to buy a cocaine for just R50, and they even buy just one line to sniff for R20 if they don’t have R50.”
In a spate of recent arrests by metro police and SAPS, eagle-eyed officers have nabbed alleged cocaine dealers across the Mother City.
In May the metro police K9 Unit arrested three men in Parow for the drug after stopping them for speeding.
At the time, Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, revealed that the driver was spotted in McIntyre Road and instructed to stop, but he refused.
“He later complied after officers activated their lights and sirens. As the driver rolled down his window, the officers got a strong smell of dagga coming from inside the vehicle.
“They immediately requested a K9 to assist with a search and the dog, Khalesi, discovered 42 packets of tik, 29 packets of dagga and three medium packets of cocaine in a plastic bag, hidden in a compartment of the vehicle.”
Less than a week later the SAPS Anti-Economic and Extortion Task Team were busy with crime prevention patrols in the Portlands, Mitchells Plain, when they arrested a 29-year-old man found to be in possession of a prohibited firearm.
Further investigations led officers to a house in Uitenhage Street in Portlands, where they found a 9mm pistol with ammunition, an electronic scale, a packet containing cocaine and 25 sachets of cocaine with an estimated street value of over R50 000.
Last week the same police unit pounced on an alleged dealer in Langa after being informed that drugs were being stored at a home in Masakani Street.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twiggs said cops confiscated a consignment of drugs consisting of cocaine, mandrax and crystal meth.
Abie Isaacs of the Cape Flats Safety Forum said cocaine has flooded the Cape Flats, and concerns are mounting over the cheapening of the drug and the possible medical effects.
“All of a sudden cocaine has flooded the Cape Flats drug market and it is becoming a big problem.
“Cocaine is not a drug you would normally find in our communities as it has historically been a high priced drug which is mostly used in affluent areas.
“Now we are seeing it being sold for very cheap and we worry about what is being used to water it down to make it so cheap. We hope that the authorities are investigating who is behind this scourge.”
