Most Act 70 applications fail on the record, not on the merits. The Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, Act 70 of 2008, allows a magistrate to commit a dependent person who refuses help to a registered treatment centre for a period of up to 12 months, through a civil process in the magistrate's court with no conviction and no criminal record. I have seen this route succeed almost exclusively for families who assembled their evidence before approaching anyone.
Myers and colleagues, in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2022, estimated that fewer than 5 percent of South Africans with a substance use disorder ever access treatment, against a lifetime prevalence of about 13.3 percent.
What the court must be satisfied of
The enquiry turns on four questions of fact: is the person dependent; is the behaviour causing serious harm to the person, the family or others; is the person committing offences to sustain the dependence; and has voluntary treatment been refused or failed. The threshold is dependence with demonstrable harm, not heavy use the family dislikes. The sworn statement may be brought by a social worker, a community leader, or a person closely associated with the dependent person, in practice the family. The person appears on summons, or on a warrant where risk is urgent, and has full rights at the enquiry, including legal representation. The court can order detoxification before admission. Withdrawal from alcohol or from benzodiazepines can be medically dangerous, and untreated alcohol withdrawal can progress to seizures or delirium tremens; it belongs with a doctor, never at home, court order or not.
The evidence file
Start the file today, not when a court date exists. A record that carries a case contains: a dated entry for each incident, written the day it happened; SAPS case numbers, opened even where no prosecution follows; hospital records; a doctor's dated notes of intoxicated presentations, missed appointments and refused referrals; bank records of theft or unexplained debt; and the date and outcome of every refused offer of treatment. Contemporaneous notes outweigh general distress before a magistrate; a GP's, EAP practitioner's or social worker's dated notes are often the strongest evidence a family has.
Stop covering up while the file is built. False stories to the employer, debts settled silently and incidents cleaned up erase the paper trail the court needs.
A worked example. Two sworn statements describe the same man. The first states that he has been drinking heavily for years, steals from the household and refuses all help, with no dates, case numbers or records attached. The second attaches a dated incident diary covering several months, SAPS case numbers for theft from the home, a hospital admission record, a GP letter recording a refused referral, and the dates of the treatment offers he refused. The first gives the prosecutor a family's distress; the second gives the magistrate findings of fact on all four questions, and the enquiry is short.
Where applications go wrong
Four procedural mistakes recur. Announcing the application as a threat mid-argument; the person learns within weeks it is a bluff; say nothing until the papers are ready. Lodging a self-drafted statement, when the papers carry the case; use a social worker or attorney who has run this route and ask which documents the local court expects. Leading with the single worst incident instead of the pattern; one bad night reads as a quarrel, a dated record spanning months reads as dependence. Waiting for the court date to ask about beds: SACENDU recorded 11,563 admissions to specialist treatment centres in the first half of 2023, up from 10,221 the previous six months, so confirm a bed, detoxification arrangements and medical aid cover before the enquiry.
The first 72 hours after committal
The days immediately after committal are predictable: anger, accusations of betrayal, calls demanding to be fetched, as withdrawal, fear, shame and lost control arrive together. The calls from these days are the most distressing a family receives and the least informative about the outcome. Most applications are undone here: the family petitions for release or withdraws cooperation, and the order's authority is spent. Fix the protocol in advance: no decision on any call from the first 72 hours, every claim verified with staff, one nominated relative handling contact.
After the order
A court order compels admission, not participation. Plan aftercare from the day of admission: housing, work or structured mornings, meetings, and who takes the first call. McLellan and colleagues, in JAMA in 2000, put relapse in treated substance dependence at roughly 40 to 60 percent, comparable to relapse and non-adherence rates in diabetes, hypertension and asthma. In Kelly and colleagues' 2019 national study, people who resolved a significant alcohol or drug problem averaged 5.35 serious recovery attempts, with a median of just 2. A later relapse is a feature of the condition, not evidence the application was a mistake.
This article is information, not legal or medical advice. Put a social worker or attorney onto the individual facts, and involve a doctor before anyone stops drinking or stops tablets.
Sources and further reading
Myers et al., The Lancet Psychiatry, substance use treatment access in South Africa, 2022
SACENDU Research Update Phase 54, SAMRC, 2024
McLellan, Lewis, O'Brien and Kleber, JAMA, drug dependence as a chronic medical illness, 2000
Kelly et al., Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, National Recovery Study, 2019
Gad Avnon
Director and Lead Addiction Counsellor, Harmony Retreat
This article is general information, not medical advice. Alcohol and some drug withdrawals can be medically dangerous. If someone is acutely unwell or at risk, seek medical help immediately.