Pretoria - Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane has heeded a call for help from a 23-year-old nyaope addict.
Isaac Mmolotsi, who has been using nyaope for five years, made an impassioned plea for help in the Sowetan newspaper recently.
On Tuesday, Mokonyane visited the young man, who volunteered to go for rehabilitation and expressed his wish to go back to school.
During her visit to the young man’s home in Kagiso, Mokonyane, who was accompanied by the Kagiso Station Commander, Sipho Ngubane and a team of social workers, stressed that the removal of the young man from the drug infested area and placement in a rehabilitation centre would not be enough.
“A problem of this nature and magnitude needs a plan that would deal with the root of the problem and not just the victims. It is also important to have an after-care programme that would focus on monitoring the children after rehabilitation and afford them the necessary support they need to stay clean,” said Mokonyane.
A hit of nyaope - which is a mixture of heroine, dagga, battery acid, rat poison, ARVs and other dangerous ingredients - costs about R30 and is popular in the townships.
The province has developed a multidisciplinary programme to deal with the drug problem throughout the country. Social workers and police are already working in communities to deal with this scourge.
“We need to rid Kagiso of this social ill first before we return the children from rehabilitation as that would decrease the chances of users relapsing,” said Mokonyane.
On hearing that the premier was in the area, seven more nyaope addicts between the ages of 18 and 25 came forth and asked the premier for help. They were all taken away and admitted to a rehab centre on Tuesday evening.
Mokonyane also issued a stern warning to the owners of drug dens in the area that their days were numbered. - SAnews.gov.za
