MEC MAZIBUKO URGES AFRICA’S BRIGHTEST YOUNG MINDS TO DELIBERATE ON THE SCOURGE OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

By Phetoho Maja

• Gauteng MEC for Social Development Faith Mazibuko highlighted the scourge of substance abuse as one of the issues requiring attention by the delegates at the Africa Children’s Summit 2025.
• Mazibuko reminded the children that the fight against drugs and alcohol abuse begins with them.
• Johannesburg is the host city of the second biennial Africa Children’s Summit.

The Gauteng Department of Social Development, MEC Faith Mazibuko, today welcomed the child delegates from across the African continent who have heeded the call to attend the prestigious Africa Children’s Summit 2025 held at St John’s College in Parktown, Johannesburg.

Mazibuko reiterated a call for Africa’s brightest young minds to deliberate on and find solutions to the scourge of substance abuse, among other issues.

The Africa Children’s Summit, which has created a safe platform for African children’s voices, empowering them to directly influence the development of policies for a brighter tomorrow, sees young people discussing pressing challenges affecting their well-being and their rights, and amplifies their voices in governance.

The summit will also review the progress on recommendations from the previous summit in Kenya in 2023, and forge actionable solutions for a brighter future.

Speaking to over 1 300 children across Africa who have physically and virtually joined the summit on 5 April 2025, Mazibuko said: “As Gauteng, we are privileged to be hosting you, and we hope that this summit will give us resolutions that will assist us in government to take care of you and to implement all these policies.”

She added: “Drug abuse is a serious problem amongst young people. We wish to call up on you, as you are discussing and debating today, to further deal with the issue of drugs and alcohol because it is destroying your future.

“We are hoping, as you leave at the end of the summit, we will be getting a resolution that will guide us as government.

“The fight against drugs and alcohol abuse begins with you. Rehabilitation alone is not enough; we need you to close the market, so that we can have a society that is sober,” said Mazibuko.

The MEC wished the delegates well with their discussion, adding: “As the Gauteng Provincial Government, we thank you for choosing us as your preferred destination.”