Pretoria - Joe Moyema, 35, of Ga-Rankuwa, has been using nyaope since 2014.
He told the Pretoria News he watched his life go by without any progress.
He was one of the drug users who last week approached EFF members who were on a drug awareness campaign in the Pretoria CBD. He voluntarily provided his information so he could be assisted with rehabilitation.
“I am tired right now, to be honest. I can’t keep doing this anymore. I need help. I do not have children. All I do is recycle and every day I watch myself give all that money to drug dealers.
“My family have given up on me because I disappointed them every time. I did not take school seriously and now I regret that,” said Moyema.
Another, Given Matjokane, 39, from Mamelodi East, said he had been using nyaope and rock for 18 years.
He watched his youth go to waste as he worked just to buy drugs, eat just to survive and sleep, so he could wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
“I don’t have children or a family of my own, but I am almost 40. I work hard just to spend R30 for nyaope and R60 for rock several times a day.
“I went to a rehabilitation centre in 2004 and lived a clean life for three years, but I relapsed because I continued to spend time with the same friends,” said Matjokane.
Fannie Letsori, 36, from Soshanguve Block G, said he was a criminal because he was stealing out of motor vehicles in the CBD daily.
“I commit crime because I am a heavy user and piece jobs are not enough for me. I spend R1 200 a day on drugs. I target the cars in the streets of Pretoria and steal equipment, bags, sound system items and other valuables motorists leave unguarded.
“I have been arrested numerous times, but they have always released me because they look at it as a small crime. I know it is not right and I am tired of it. I want to be successful and have my own things. I wish to be successful,” he said.
Letsori was one of the few drug users who is a parent. He has a son who is 6, but his other child died two months after birth in 2006. His responsibilities as a father were passed on to his mother, who now supports his son.
Edward Phehle, 30, of Hammanskraal, said he was tired of sleeping in the streets and needed to turn things around.
The last five years were a waste because he worked just to make R200 each day, just to smoke it all away. He is an informal trader at Bloed Mall Taxi Rank.
They all admitted they were struggling with drug addiction and homelessness and were desperate for an opportunity to change their lives.
They told the “fighters”, including Tshwane EFF chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu, they were “sick and tired” of drugs.
Ramabodu said the EFF in Tshwane partnered with the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence to assist these young people to turn their lives around.
The party was doing this as part of assisting the lost youth and would foot the bill to see they had an opportunity to be rehabilitated.
“We chose the corner of Struben and Prinsloo streets, because we are told there are more than 40 drug dealers who come. We even brought them refreshments to show them we care about them. To them, it seems like nobody is trying to talk to them.”
Pretoria News