News / National
Police warn against recording videos of drunks
06 Aug 2023 at 08:21hrs | Views
POLICE have warned members of the public against recording videos of people who are in a state of vulnerability, saying it is a criminal offence and those caught doing so will be liable to arrest.
The warning follows the circulation of a video of a suspected Nyamande Primary School pupil on social media last week who was visibly drunk and disorderly. Nyamande Primary School is situated in Bulawayo's Old Lobengula suburb. In the video, the learner who has since been identified, is seen sitting in what looks like a school office with officials trying to locate his grandmother. The learner is in senior classes at the school. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube told Sunday News that the matter was under investigation.
"The school was identified and efforts to arrest the drug peddler are still underway. It was established, however, that the learner had stolen R20 from his grandmother which he used to buy 375mls of hot stuff which he went on to dilute with a fizzy soft drink. The boy drank the alcohol during lesson time in the classroom after asking for permission to have his ‘drink' from the teacher as he claimed that his throat was running dry and he got drunk," said Insp Ncube.
Unbeknown to the teacher, the boy was consuming alcohol instead, leading to the concoction intoxicating him and causing him to behave in an unacceptable manner. Insp Ncube said that the police were investigating the video which had gone viral and appeared to have been recorded in a school set up. He added that the police were making efforts to establish the person who recorded the video at the school.
"We urge authorities, teachers, parents, and, members of the public to desist from taking videos of vulnerable people or those in distress and sending them on social media as that is an offence, in any case, people were supposed to protect the child and carry medical measures which include but not limited to calling parents, police or other stakeholders," he said.
In the video the learner seems to be surrounded by school authorities while holding an empty container from where he was drinking. He also claimed that he smoked something out of an eletricity bulb, marijuana, and takes codeine-containing cough syrups.
He further names the drug peddler. Teachers who had gathered to witness the spectacle tried in vain to keep the learner calm as he paced up and down the room briefly requesting to go and sleep in the sun. The boy, however, acknowledges that his grandmother was going to beat him up if she was to see him in a drunken state.
Drug abuse has been rife in communities and schools around the country with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education saying they have a zero-tolerance to substance abuse. Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo, the only public psychiatric institution, is inundated with drug and substance abuse victims who are admitted to the hospital with numbers ballooning on a regular basis. Hospital officials have also raised alarm over the large numbers of young people who need rehabilitation from substance abuse.
The warning follows the circulation of a video of a suspected Nyamande Primary School pupil on social media last week who was visibly drunk and disorderly. Nyamande Primary School is situated in Bulawayo's Old Lobengula suburb. In the video, the learner who has since been identified, is seen sitting in what looks like a school office with officials trying to locate his grandmother. The learner is in senior classes at the school. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube told Sunday News that the matter was under investigation.
"The school was identified and efforts to arrest the drug peddler are still underway. It was established, however, that the learner had stolen R20 from his grandmother which he used to buy 375mls of hot stuff which he went on to dilute with a fizzy soft drink. The boy drank the alcohol during lesson time in the classroom after asking for permission to have his ‘drink' from the teacher as he claimed that his throat was running dry and he got drunk," said Insp Ncube.
Unbeknown to the teacher, the boy was consuming alcohol instead, leading to the concoction intoxicating him and causing him to behave in an unacceptable manner. Insp Ncube said that the police were investigating the video which had gone viral and appeared to have been recorded in a school set up. He added that the police were making efforts to establish the person who recorded the video at the school.
"We urge authorities, teachers, parents, and, members of the public to desist from taking videos of vulnerable people or those in distress and sending them on social media as that is an offence, in any case, people were supposed to protect the child and carry medical measures which include but not limited to calling parents, police or other stakeholders," he said.
In the video the learner seems to be surrounded by school authorities while holding an empty container from where he was drinking. He also claimed that he smoked something out of an eletricity bulb, marijuana, and takes codeine-containing cough syrups.
He further names the drug peddler. Teachers who had gathered to witness the spectacle tried in vain to keep the learner calm as he paced up and down the room briefly requesting to go and sleep in the sun. The boy, however, acknowledges that his grandmother was going to beat him up if she was to see him in a drunken state.
Drug abuse has been rife in communities and schools around the country with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education saying they have a zero-tolerance to substance abuse. Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo, the only public psychiatric institution, is inundated with drug and substance abuse victims who are admitted to the hospital with numbers ballooning on a regular basis. Hospital officials have also raised alarm over the large numbers of young people who need rehabilitation from substance abuse.
Source - The Sunday News
