Chairperson, the response to the question asked by hon Nelson is as follows: In terms of section 17(1) of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, Act 70 of 2008, the Minister of Social Development must, in consultation with the MEC, establish, maintain and manage at least one public treatment centre in each province for the reception, treatment, rehabilitation and skills development of service users.
The Department of Social Development is in the process of developing regulations for Act 70 of 2008. These regulations will, amongst others, guide provinces in the establishment and management of state treatment centres and halfway houses. Upon completion of the regulations that we are working on, Act 70 of 2008 will replace the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Act, Act 20 of 1992.
Currently, there are six public treatment centres in the country and the Department of Social Development is planning to establish seven more public treatment centres over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period.
We can give an indication of where the existing centres are and where we need to establish some. In Gauteng there is a centre at the Dr F F Ribeiro Clinic; in Mpumalanga at Swartfontein; in the Western Cape at De Novo and Kensington; in KwaZulu-Natal at Madadeni and Newlands Park. That is six centres altogether. We intend to establish more centres in the North West, Limpopo, Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape, and two more in the Western Cape.
Chairperson, 45 private treatment centres are currently registered with the Department of Social Development and 23 of them are funded by the department.
The Department of Social Development also conducted a door-to-door campaign in all provinces from 2007 to 2009 to obtain political buy-in. We had a discussion with the MECs and provincial heads of department with the intention to strengthen the implementation of substance abuse prevention programmes as outlined in the National Drug Master Plan which was established for operation between 2006 and 2011.
The Department of Social Development also has a programme called "Ke Moja" [No, thanks], which is a drug awareness programme aimed at creating awareness of harmful effects of substance abuse amongst children and youth both in and out of school. In order to successfully implement the programme, different state departments at both national and provincial levels are working with our NGOs, which are doing a wonderful job in the field of substance abuse.
Training was also conducted in the nine provinces during 2007 and leading up to early this year and currently assists in the roll-out of the programme. This is happening in recreational facilities in schools, clubs and other community institutions that are also working with the Education department and other departments. The Ke Moja programme is an integrated strategy and the necessary programme manuals were developed to guide stakeholders in implementing it ... [Time expired.]