A task that needed fulfilling this past week was to chat to the teenage son of a close friend. Having tested positive for drugs, one assumes this is why Uncle Wesley’s intervention is required.
Living on the Cape Flats, my friend’s son is not alone. According to an August 2025 report from the University of the Western Cape, more than a quarter of young people in the province, between the ages of 15 and 20 years, have tried or experimented with the highly addictive drug crystal methamphetamine commonly known as tik.
For the families and friends of these young people, and my friend’s son, the words of the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, come as cold comfort.
The leader of South Africa’s second-largest political party, in his column in Sunday World, titled “No bail for violent drug dealers” (Sunday 3 May 2026), continues with typical DA diatribes attacking everyone else and any other institution besides the provincial government and the City of Cape Town, which have spent an estimated R2-billion between 2019 and 2024 on the failed Western Cape Safety Plan.
The fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa had to send the army to the Cape Flats again recently just proves the utter failure of the plan.
Another feature of the Hill-Lewis harangue is the fact that he, like the premier, only visits the Cape Flats – the coloured and African townships where gangs, crime and drugs have become characteristic – to conclude, incorrectly, that crime, gangs and drugs are a security issue only.
That a simple street light that doesn’t work isn’t a light bulb moment for a mayor who probably doesn’t even notice it being out or the effect it has on creating conditions for crime to thrive.
Together with safety and security MMC JP Smith and Premier Alan Winde, Hill-Lewis, like the apartheid state security, think that everything will be solved with law enforcement, intelligence, prosecution and imprisonment.
The mayor from the suburbs may be surprised to know that the drug trade gets largely managed from Pollsmoor, Brandvlei and even Goodwood prisons.
No, Mr Mayor, it doesn’t matter if drug dealers get bail or not.
As with Smith and Winde, who for ages have had an adversarial approach to the SAPS and have sought to form their own police force through the establishment of the Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (Leap), with it making no impact on gangsterism, crime and drugs, the DA leader thinks, like PW Botha did, that if you prosecute, prosecute and prosecute, you’ll be able to deal with these scourges.
These scourges will only be kicked in the teeth when you invest more in defeating the causes of drug addiction. When more young people get through rehabilitation and we keep them off drugs and out of gangs.
When the city and province invest more in our townships, small businesses deliver far better service delivery, create more intense health facilities, and broaden education to include extramural activities, which keep our youngsters off the street corners, then we will start to see the difference. Yet, with Hill-Lewis’ concurrence, Winde is cutting the budgets of health and education departments to fund his safety plan. Another R8.5-billion has been budgeted to fund Leap.
Say what you want about the ANC in the Western Cape, there is one titbit of history for which it gets very little recognition.
A threat that seemed insurmountable at one stage was stemmed by cooperation across the spheres of government, a non-adversarial approach to any institution in the criminal justice system and a holistic approach to tackling all the causes of extremism and radicalism.
The reality is that the DA does not know how to govern. It only knows how to fight and oppose.
And my friend’s son, like so many youngsters, continues to suffer because their mayor is fighting the wrong fight.
- Seale is a member of the ANC’s provincial task team in the Western Cape.
- The author was tasked with speaking to the teenage son of a close friend.
- The teenager had tested positive for drugs.
- This situation likely prompted the involvement of "Uncle Wesley" for an intervention.
- The article implies the need for addressing the teen’s drug issue.
- Full story is available in the e-edition of Sunday World via the provided link.
A task that needed fulfilling this past week was to chat to the teenage son of a close friend.
For the families and friends of these young people, and my friend’s son, the words of the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, come as cold comfort.
No, Mr Mayor, it doesn’t matter if drug dealers get bail or not.
As with
When the city and province invest more in our townships, small businesses deliver far better service delivery, create more intense health facilities, and broaden education to include extramural activities, which keep our youngsters off the street corners, then we will start to see the difference. Yet, with Hill-Lewis’ concurrence,
Say what you want about the ANC in the Western Cape, there is one titbit of history for which it gets very little recognition.
A threat that seemed insurmountable at one stage was stemmed by cooperation across the spheres of government, a non-adversarial approach to any institution in the criminal justice system and a holistic approach to tackling all the causes of extremism and radicalism.
- Seale is a member of the ANC’s provincial task team in the Western Cape.
