THE community of Windsor, northern Johannesburg, took to the streets at the weekend to protest against the abundance of drugs in the area.
The middle-class suburb is notorious for its many drug merchants.
The Saturday march was the brainchild of senior Rhema church member Sharon Peters, who lives in the area.
Other church groups, anti-drug organisations and the DA in Gauteng, joined hands with residents and marched through Windsor's streets chanting "Say no to drugs". The marchers' route covered known hot-spots where dealers usually carry out their illicit trade.
Albeit in moderate numbers, the less than 100 marchers were in strong voice.
Van Zijl said: "Windsor is not like areas in Cape Town, for example, where drugs are used on the streets. This is where the sellers are and we find that a lot of kids come here to buy drugs.
"These dealers are so brazen. They openly sell the drugs to the children.
"At any given time at the known hot-spots, you will find up to 10 men standing there pretending to be hawkers," Van Zijl said.
"Last week one of the ladies putting up posters inviting people to join this march was approached and offered drugs," she said.
Van Zijl said the police should treat drug dealing as a priority crime.
"Too often we find that dealers get bail easily and quickly. They must re-establish the drug unit. We want a dedi-cated senior prosecutor at the Randburg court for this side," she said.
"And we still need to improve the forensic test turnaround time. I understand it now takes two to three weeks, which is too long."
Van Zijl also decried the fact that arrested dealers spent little time in prison because they were granted bail - which they could easily pay because they have the cash.
Local Community Policing Forum chairman Jadd Harding said that the police were doing what they could from a policing perspective but the courts were demoralising them.
He said many officers complained of arresting the same person six or seven times.
"It's frustrating. The other day a guy was arrested with 50 rocks [drugs] on him and he got a R250 fine. The matter was deferred. We need to get the courts right," Harding said.
Darran Bayness, a recovering addict, said he had been using drugs for 16 years and was helped by the church to clean himself up.
He now dedicates all his time to evangelical work with Over Comers for Christ church in the Florida area.
He works with a group of 10 volunteers. - moengk@sowetan.co.za
March to say no to drug dealers
THE community of Windsor, northern Johannesburg, took to the streets at the weekend to protest against the abundance of drugs in the area.
The middle-class suburb is notorious for its many drug merchants.
The Saturday march was the brainchild of senior Rhema church member Sharon Peters, who lives in the area.
Other church groups, anti-drug organisations and the DA in Gauteng, joined hands with residents and marched through Windsor's streets chanting "Say no to drugs". The marchers' route covered known hot-spots where dealers usually carry out their illicit trade.
Albeit in moderate numbers, the less than 100 marchers were in strong voice.
Van Zijl said: "Windsor is not like areas in Cape Town, for example, where drugs are used on the streets. This is where the sellers are and we find that a lot of kids come here to buy drugs.
"These dealers are so brazen. They openly sell the drugs to the children.
"At any given time at the known hot-spots, you will find up to 10 men standing there pretending to be hawkers," Van Zijl said.
"Last week one of the ladies putting up posters inviting people to join this march was approached and offered drugs," she said.
Van Zijl said the police should treat drug dealing as a priority crime.
"Too often we find that dealers get bail easily and quickly. They must re-establish the drug unit. We want a dedi-cated senior prosecutor at the Randburg court for this side," she said.
"And we still need to improve the forensic test turnaround time. I understand it now takes two to three weeks, which is too long."
Van Zijl also decried the fact that arrested dealers spent little time in prison because they were granted bail - which they could easily pay because they have the cash.
Local Community Policing Forum chairman Jadd Harding said that the police were doing what they could from a policing perspective but the courts were demoralising them.
He said many officers complained of arresting the same person six or seven times.
"It's frustrating. The other day a guy was arrested with 50 rocks [drugs] on him and he got a R250 fine. The matter was deferred. We need to get the courts right," Harding said.
Darran Bayness, a recovering addict, said he had been using drugs for 16 years and was helped by the church to clean himself up.
He now dedicates all his time to evangelical work with Over Comers for Christ church in the Florida area.
He works with a group of 10 volunteers. - moengk@sowetan.co.za
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