Rampant Drug Deals in Entumbane: Residents Fed Up

Ward 10 councillor in Entumbane Sinikiwe Mutanda says she fears that residents might take justice into their hands as the law has failed to resolve the issue of drug dealers in the suburb targeting teenage youths. 

Ward 10 councillor in Entumbane Sinikiwe Mutanda says she fears that residents might take justice into their hands as the law has failed to resolve the issue of drug dealers in the suburb targeting teenage youths. 

The issue was raised during a community meeting organized by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association on Wednesday. 

Youths between the ages of 18 and 21 years are the most vulnerable as they are now addicted to drugs such as Ngoma, pill and mbanje amongst others, residents who attended the meeting said.

“This is an old issue, I have tried engaging many people even when I was still in resident association committee position, the problem is that it is a woman who is selling these drugs”, Mutanda stressed.

She said the law has failed to take action hence this is affecting the community, adding some dealers walked scot-free despite prior police action. 

“It is hard for us to even think where we can start solving this issue because this woman is abusing our children and the law has not done anything to help us, they have arrested her several times but we see her roaming the streets everyday,” she said .

The fact that women also participate in selling drugs, particularly to youths, is an issue of concern for other women in the community. 

One of Mutanda's priorities in Entumbane is building a youth centre so that young people can be occupied during their spare time.

“My priority as a councillor is to see my community having a public library and a youth centre because these children don't have any activity that occupies them during their spare time, even those from varsities are not employed. If they can have a place where they can do activities such as arts or poultry maybe the issue of drug abuse can be reduced,” she said.

Residents in Entumbane have tried to engage the police further but nothing has been done to solve the issue, according to Lovemore Sibanda, chairman of residents in Entumbane. 

“We have tried engaging other communities such as Mpopoma and Njube to see how best we can solve this issue but we realized that this drug lord is involved with the top officials that is why she is not getting arrested,” Sibanda said.

He said the community representatives are in the process of writing a petition to demand action regarding this particular drug dealer. The letter would receive a stamp of approval from the member in charge and go to Harare for higher up approval. 

A resident, Gracious Chipemba, said the involvement of children in drugs is increasing theft in the community.

“We are now victims of these drug addicts, we have to be careful on how we place our money at home even car tires are being stolen  and we are being threatened in our community by these children,” said Chipemba.

She highlighted that children under the age of 20 are the ones most involved in drugs in the community, and that they often vandalize community property. 

 “When they are high they start fighting and vandalize even our property including cars on the roads,” Chipemba said. “We wish there can be activities these children can be involved in to stop this habit."