Kgalema Motlanthe Urges Police to Target Drug Trafficking Kingpins

What changed

Former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe urged police to pursue major drug traffickers rather than people who use drugs at a two-day Cape Town conference on 9 November 2026. As chair of the Eastern and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs, he called for rehabilitation, treatment and better information for users, alongside tougher attention to the networks moving illicit drugs.

Why it matters

Motlanthe’s argument is blunt: filling prisons with users does little if the traffickers supplying them keep operating. He said punitive policies had increased imprisonment and overcrowding while failing to solve the drug trade.

The pressure for a new approach comes as South Africa is described as a transit, consumption and production hub for illicit drugs, with synthetic-drug production and trafficking routes changing. Law-enforcement sources also raised concern that local foot soldiers were being arrested while senior traffickers, chemical producers, transporters and equipment suppliers escaped attention.

The policy shift remains uncertain. It would require South African and regional authorities to change how they enforce drug laws, handle personal possession and fund treatment. Motlanthe’s central test is practical: target the people who organise and supply the trade, while giving users access to care and reliable information about what they are taking.