Why only Eldos? Why not Elsies?

Why only visit Eldos Mr President? Why not Elsies or Other Cape Flats Areas?
People in the Western Cape are rightfully asking why the media focus is only on Eldorado Park and the much publicised visit by President Zuma.
People are asking “Why Eldos and not Elsies …or other area on the Cape Flats?”
How did it happen that law enforcement action was so quick effective and efficient in Eldorado Park while the drug epidemic coninues to lay siege to the Cape Flats?
In some circles it is seen as a political ploy, but is it?

“We keep hearing about Eldorado Park in Johannesburg. The president has been visiting the community after complaints about drug abuse and drug dealing. This story has been in the news for 2 weeks now. Why can’t something real be done to curb drugs, gangs and violence throughout South Africa?” says a concerned resident of Elsies River.
He continues: “In Elsies River and the rest of the Cape Flats there have been hundreds of drug/gang related killings in the last few years – in Elsies River alone 8 people where shot dead in 1 week! Come on – stop pretending to care when it’s election time coming – get rid of the current corrupt and useless police force who are themselves a criminal gang! Also the politicians and their officials who are corrupt!”

It would be easy for us all to focus on the presidency and moan about the perceived lack of attention government pays to the drug problem in the Western Cape. Of course the ANC national government would do well in paying more attention to the problem of drugs and gangs in this DA run province but let us first focus on the issue of “Why Eldorado Park?”
One of the primary reasons bruinou.com has been highlighting the Eldorado Park community’s fight against drug abuse and drug dealers is that it has had successes, is still gaining success and those successes could possibly be replicated in communities all over the country.

So one might ask: Why has it not yet been replicated here on the Cape Flats?
There is one small difference between the people of Eldos and the people of Elsies; The people of Eldos put their differences aside and across the political and religious divides decided to work together and fight a common enemy.
On the Cape Flats every initiative by the communities to unite against drugs & drug dealers becomes an opportunity for someone to play political football.

Was it a cheap political trick?
There was certainly no party politics in the letter in which Dereleen James made a plea to the president to visit Eldos. Let us also keep in mind that this open letter was an actual invitation that someone took the time to eloquently write and not some short random anonymous rant in a newspaper reader’s letters or SMS column.
Sure JZ will score some political mileage out of his visit to Eldos but if we begin to think that it was his main intention then we are naiively missing the mark.

I won’t pretend to be speaking for the presidency but if one looks at it objectively, then it becomes clear that it was not only that heartfelt invitation, but also the fact that the people of Eldos showed unity amongst themselves that probably drew his attention.
There was not one political party banner or T-shirt in sight when the president visited. Ms James made it clear to him that they want their campaign to be as a-political as possible and the president obliged.

The political stakes are high in the Cape.
When one looks at what is at stake for political parties in the Western Cape, it would be safe to say that an uninvited visit by the president to areas like Elsies River, Steenberg, Mitchell’s Plain or Manenberg would probably draw the same suspicious question: It’s so close to elections. Isn’t it just cheap politicking?

The main on-going stumbling block in the Western Cape fight against drugs is indeed cheap politicking. Whenever either the provincial DA or ANC leaderships get involved in anti-drug campaigns, in most cases the organisers of those campaigns are aligned to one of those parties. If not, then someone is bound to hijack the podium and turn it into a party-political issue.

Helen Zille visited Elsies River on Saturday 1st June but one is still not sure if it was as premier or as DA leader. Certainly the “sea of blue” was a political statement. Marius Fransman, albeit that he has no provincial government portfolio, also seems to do the same when they address the concerns of citizens as ANC leadership instead of government representatives.
What we need is for them, the opposing politicians, to take hands in joining the fight against drugs. They need to take off their political cloaks and get their hands dirty, constantly.

An exception to the rule seems to be senior DA member and former mayor Dan Plato, who in his capacity as Community Safety MEC, joins in marches, addresses community anti-drug and anti-gangsterism meetings and visits incident scenes as the MEC and not as a political party PR exercise.

The battle continues.
Even the community leaders of Eldos know that a visit by the president and some concentrated joint operations by different law enforcement agencies does not mean the problems have gone away.

Wayne Fearick who is at the forefront of the Eldorado Park anti-drug campaign regularly reminds residents that the battle is not over. They still have the problems of corrupt police officers, drug dealers trying to find more innovative new ways to operate, politicians wanting to get mileage out of the community’s campaign, and all the different sectors of the community not always being in agreement about how the campaign is run, but that the one certain way the drug dealers will again get the upper hand is if the unity in the community is broken.
What the president did in Eldos was simply give impetus to the various organs of state to take hands with the unified community of Eldorado Park and for them all to dig in their heels alongside each other.

Our focus should be about more than just the president of the country giving Eldos a little bit of attention. This is about a profound hope that the continuing story of Eldos inspires our people on the Cape Flats to think beyond party politics or organisational differences and unite All the role players in the fight against drugs.
Whether he comes to our areas or not, be it by a invitation or not, waiting on the president to arrive and sweep clean with some magical broom will be in vain, especially if he should get here finding us not standing together. That magic broom only works if we stand together and show the politicians that we want them to set aside politics and show us that they also mean business.
We shall remain on the losing side of the battle against drugs if we all continue to pull in different directions.