CITY OF CAPE TOWN
MEDIA RELEASE
26 June 2008
SPEECH BY HELEN ZILLE
MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN
OPENING OF TAFELSIG OUTPATIENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE
TREATMENT FACILITY
26 JUNE 2008
City councillors and officials, representatives of Vodacom, ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to warmly welcome everyone to the official opening of the Tafelsig
Outpatient Drug Treatment Facility.
Exactly one year ago today the City of Cape Town announced that it would establish this
and at least three other similar treatment facilities by mid 2010 as part of its broader
strategy to address drug and alcohol abuse.
We introduced this strategy in response to the increase in drug and alcohol related crime
in Cape Town from around 5000 incidents per year in 2001 to 25 000 per year in 2006.
We have a constitutional obligation to secure public health and prevent what the
Constitution describes as “public nuisance”.
In addition, our IDP focus is to tackle Cape Town’s key developmental challenges by
encouraging economic growth and job creation.
For this to succeed, we need to promote a cleaner, safer urban environment that will
attract more businesses and investors, and create more job opportunities.
Drug and alcohol abuse creates obstacles to this objective.
It is linked to theft, violent crime, vehicle accidents, road related deaths and
gangsterism. As much as 70% of violent crime has been linked to drug and alcohol
abuse. This undermines the overall quality of our urban environment, and places a
burden on our criminal justice system.
It also places an enormous burden on our health system with high incidences of family
violence, heart and lung disease, HIV, other STDs, TB and Hepatitis C, and Foetal Alcohol
Syndrome.
The rise in methamphetamine or ‘tik’ abuse in Cape Town is one of our greatest
challenges, just as it is in other global cities such as Sydney, Bangkok, Toronto, Los
Angeles or Tokyo. In Cape Town last year, 42% of all people admitted to treatment in
this province were admitted for tik, and 59% of those were under 20 years old. And
these were the lucky ones who made it to treatment.
The City is committed to making effective, affordable and accessible treatment for drug
and alcohol problems available to everyone.
The treatment centre we open today is part of that commitment.
It has, unfortunately, taken many months longer than anticipated to open.
This building was set on fire by criminals last year, and needed to be rebuilt.
It has also taken a long time to make the appointment of suitable therapists.
The posts had to be advertised twice before we were able to find two people with the
suitable skills who could go for specialised training with the Matrix Institute.
We have had to advertise for a third time in order to find qualified staff for our
second out-patient programme.
There are more interviews taking place this month, but it has become obvious that the
skills and competencies needed to work in evidence based interventions are scarce.
This is why we have made the development of these scarce skills one of the key
interventions in the City’s strategy.
However, I am glad that we have finally reached this important milestone.
The facility we open today is the first in South Africa to implement a dedicated Matrix
Model of evidence based drug and alcohol treatment.
This is a tried and tested method and it will be continuously assessed to ensure that it
meets the required standards.
The Matrix Model was originally developed to deal with the cocaine, crack and
methamphetamine epidemic in the USA in the 1980s, after it was found that people who
were using these kinds of drugs were not responding to conventional treatment methods
for heroin and alcohol.
Over the past 20 years the research has been expanded to include alcohol and heroin
users and the model is now used successfully to treat all drug and alcohol problems in
many different countries and cultures.
This treatment facility is the first in a series of similar outpatient centres that the City of
Cape Town intends to open in municipal clinics.
These centres will be established in areas where available data from the Medicines
Research Council and other sources indicate the need is greatest.
We aim to treat 300 patients per year at each clinic, and assist many more with guidance
and information.
Their inclusion in municipal clinics is ideal for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it ensures that substance abuse treatment facilities remain a sustainable part of
the City of Cape Town’s health services and operations. We have staff members who are
part of the City administration and who are trained and qualified to administer quality
treatment programmes.
Secondly, it avoids the need for a whole layer of administration associated with managing
separate premises, as well as lengthy admission procedures that are often a barrier to
treatment.
And thirdly, because it is in a clinic, a range of other vital health care services are
available.
Our treatment facilities are an intervention to reduce demand for drugs, and must be
seen as part of the City of Cape Town’s overall strategy to address substance abuse.
Our supply reduction initiatives fall under the Metro Police, who have developed a specific
strategy that seeks to reduce drug and alcohol related crime.
This strategy guides a unit in the Metro Police that focuses on identifying people driving
under the influence of alcohol and drugs, on illegal drug and alcohol dealing, and on the
eviction of drug dealers and illegal shebeen operators from council-owned properties.
The City has also established the Cape Town Drug Action Committee to implement,
monitor and evaluate the City’s Strategy in line with national legislation.
It includes officials from various municipal departments, and a system of sub-committees
in each of the 8 City Health Districts anchored by health, social development, and Metro
Police officials.
We have 24 of these officials assigned to the sub-committees around the city, and they
will also represent local government in community drug action committees in their
districts.
This organisational structure guides our spending and deployment of resources so that
our actions in each district have an impact and are relevant to the affected communities.
It is in the process of forming networks with community drug action committees,
community police forums, the Provincial Departments of Health, Social Development,
Justice, Correctional Service and SAPS, service providers and all other interested
community groups and individuals to develop local strategies for supply and demand
reduction.
There are more aspects to our operational strategy, but these are the main interventions.
They are all in line with the National Drug Master Plan (2006-2011) and the new
Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill that was passed in Parliament on
Tuesday.
The fact is, no one department or sphere of government can do this alone. We need to
work together; and we need to do it effectively:
We need the SAPS to arrest dealers
We need the courts to secure convictions.
We need Marine and Coastal Management to crack down on perlemoen poaching in order
to reduce the supply of pseudoephedrine. Perlemoen is smuggled to the Far East and
South East Asia and swapped for pseudoephedrine which is the chemical used to make
tik.
And we need families and communities to watch over their children, and reflect on their
own values and role modelling.
Everyone needs to work together, because everyone is affected.
I am delighted that Vodacom has chosen to lead the way for business to get involved.
I would like to thank Steven Barnwell and Vodacom for their decision to support our new
clinic with nearly R1.5 million in funding, and for helping to raise public awareness of the
drug problem.
Another valuable partner for the City has been the NGO, SMART (Substance Misuse
Advocacy Research & Training), which, under the leadership of Sarah Fisher, has worked
hard to steer us toward the most effective possible approach to addressing
Methamphetamine abuse. I look forward to continued work with SMART as we move into
the next phases of our strategy.
I would also like to thank the Matrix Institute of Addictions at the University of California
in Los Angeles, and particularly their Executive Director Jeanne Obert, who has provided
guidance, support and an unwavering commitment to the City. She and her team will be
here in August to see the clinics, give our therapists ongoing supervision and support, as
well as to run some specialised training courses.
At the same time, I must thank the many dedicated individuals within the City of Cape
Town who have helped to make this initiative possible.
In particular I would like to acknowledge Mayoral Committee Member for Health,
Councillor Martin Fienies, Sub-Council Chair, Councillor Grant Pascoe, the Health Portfolio
Committee Chair, Councillor James Vos, the ward and proportional representation
councillors of Mitchells Plain, Executive Directors responsible for this interdepartmental
initiative, Dr Bromfield from City Health, Mr Mansoor Mohammed from Economic and
Social Development and Mr Mike Marsden from Service Delivery Integration, and the staff
of this clinic.
Lastly, there are two very important people who are not here today that we must
acknowledge.
The first is Deputy Mayor Grant Haskin, who is responsible for overseeing the
development and implementation of the City of Cape Town’s strategy to address drug
and alcohol related harms.
The Deputy Mayor is currently abroad on important business related to the 2010 Soccer
World Cup, and so could not join us today.
He has been fulfilling his responsibilities with great conviction, and I thank him in his
absence.
The second is Dr Ivan Toms, the City of Cape Town’s former Executive Director for
Health, who died tragically in March this year.
Dr Toms played a pivotal role in our initiative to build outpatient treatment services into
existing City clinics. We are sad that he cannot be here to see his hard work come to
fruition.
I believe, however, it is a fitting tribute to his memory that this clinic has created the
opportunity for many people who are suffering as a result of drug and alcohol problems
to change their lives, their families’ lives and this community for the better.
I thank you.
MEDIA LIAISON: ROBERT MACDONALD 084 977 9888