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Young volunteers rewarded for their hard work against substance abuse
23 February 2009
The MEC for the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, Firoz Cachalia, has today, Monday, 23 February 2009, honoured about 300 young Gauteng volunteers for attending and successful competition of an intensive training on the substance abuse prevention programme.
The programme is part of the provincial crime prevention strategy to reduce crime, especially which result from substance abuse such as intake of drugs, alcohol and other illegal substance. The recipients included, amongst others, members of various youth desks and inmates from the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre.
Speaking from the award ceremony held at Turfontein Racecourse, MEC Cachalia expressed his gratitude to the graduates for taking the course critically because the little knowledge they acquired will change and save the lives of many people in the communities. The programme is run by the Department of Community Safety in partnership with Departments of Education, Correctional Services and other anti-drug abuse organisations to combat drug-abuse linked crime. “This programme should be effectively implemented and focus mostly on the youth issues, because substance abuse is one of the primary reasons that most young people commit crime s and find themselves in jail instead of school,” urged Cachalia.
The success and importance of the ceremony was demonstrated by confessions by rehabilitated music star Sandile Ngwenya, otherwise better known as Mapaputsi, and inmates from the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre who admitted how alcohol and drug-abuse led them behind the bars.
For more information contact:
Mandla Radebe
Tel: 011 689 3633
Cell: 083 288 8915
E-mail: mandla.radebe@gauteng.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Provincial Government
23 February 2009
Source: Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Provincial Government
(http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)