Chairperson, drug smuggling into South Africa is a direct attack on the moral fibre of our society. The increased abuse of South African facilities to transport illegal substances, if allowed to go unchecked, could relegate our country to the status of an easy smuggling route with a serious impact on the international mobility of goods and people. Noting the recent increase in the reported discovery and seizure of drugs at a major airport and harbours in South Africa, we as Cope thank and congratulate the relevant organs of state on their efforts to fight the scourge of drug smuggling.
From a lesson learned in the recent past, Cope is calling on the Minister of Police and the Minister of Justice to, firstly, ensure that confiscated substances that would serve as evidence in forthcoming trials are properly secured; secondly, to ensure that integrated senior specialist crime investigators work with prosecutors to investigate this crime to ensure arrest; and thirdly, once the arrest has been made, the Minister should see to it that relevant legal processes and documentation are legal, professional and thorough, to ensure that perpetrators do not walk free on some technical and procedural deficiencies.