Central Drug Authority Addicted to Travel and Accommodation

Statement by Nicola du Plessis MP – DA NCOP Member on the Select Committee on Social Services:

The Democratic Alliance will exert all possible parliamentary oversight over the Central Drug Authority – an entity meant to coordinate a national programme of action against drug abuse – because it is spending the majority of its budget on travel and accommodation, rather than on programmes to end drug abuse.

The DA can reveal that the CDA spent the majority of its national budget on accommodation, venues and transport for the Department of Social Development, exemplified by spending R1 million on shuttles.

The CDA, an entity of the Department of Social Development, has also been allocated an additional R10 million budget this year, for no good reason, while spending the majority of its budget last year on travel.

In the midst of South Africa’s worsening drug abuse crisis, the CDA is clearly not meeting its mandate to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan (NDMP). It is meeting none of its overall mandate, while spending generously on its own travel and accommodation.

What must this say to the desperate families facing drug addiction among their children or relatives?

And what must communities and vulnerable people who need real interventions, and support, take from this?

When the CDA was launched in 2013, it was intended to play a central role in ensuring the Drug Master Plan would work, but a large part of its budget is spent on venues and facilities, even though its meetings and reporting to Parliament were “held online”.

There are also concerns about the appointment process for the new CDA Board. The current Board has reached the end of its five-year term, but the Department has not given Parliament the required time for the advertisement and recruitment of a new Board. This creates the impression of a rushed process that may favour a pre-approved list of names rather than an open, transparent and merit-based appointment process.

South Africans struggling with drug abuse and addiction deserve more than excuses, delayed appointments, and unclear spending.

The work of the CDA, its outcomes, and its expenditure needs to be thoroughly interrogated by Parliament. The DA will lead this charge.