She bullied her mother and kids, this is her story
NOMFUNDO Cele was a rebellious teenager, who would often shove her mother against a wall in an alcohol-infused rage.
Today, the 30-year-old, of Kwadabeka, who is completing her masters degree in transport economics, is sophisticated and poised.
There is no inkling that she was once a foul mouthed youth, who got a high partying with friends, many of whom were infamous street thugs and party-goers.
In the process, she also earned a reputation.
In the community she was raised in, she was called her Ndofire.
“When my kids were born, I was never around. My mother and grandmother raised them. I had become violent at home, towards my mom. I would push her against the wall.
“I had no regard for authority, not even for my grandmother. I would swear where ever I was and with whomever I was with, even at my children,” she confessed.
Cele, a mother of four, is the founder of the non-profit drug and alcohol restoration centre, Favoured Footprints, which is based in Kwadabeka.
She counsels youth on the dangers of substance abuse and on how to break free from addiction.
Since connecting with the the brainchild behind Mothers with Courage, Jane Pillay, over Facebook in December, she is now a committee member of the NPO.
Cele will relate her story of being a alcoholic and drug user at the organisation’s upcoming launch event.
She gave POST a brief insight into her life.
“I was a rebel child and used to hang around gangsters. At first I started drinking occasionally but when I was 15, I found out I was pregnant.
“My child’s father was 25. I was confused and scared at the prospect of telling my parents but I knew I was going to keep the child.”
After her daughter Ukhona, was born, she continued to drink but excessively.
She would even steal money from her mother to feed her habit.
Cele would later learn that her boyfriend, who was in and out of her life, had a child with another woman.
Though angry, she continued their relationship.
“I was hypnotised. Possessed. He would come back, make me pregnant and reject me. He never supported the kids. My mother did.”
She went on to have two more children with him: Ntsika, now 10, and Kwethu, eight. Ukhona is 14. “After the third baby, he paid lobola for someone else and it was over. I was alone.”
During all this time, her mother and grandmother, despite the verbal and physical abuse, ensured Cele completed high school.
While she continued her drinking binges, partying heavily and smoking weed, she somehow managed to pursue her tertiary studies.
At 21, she was offered an internship at the Department of Transport in Pretoria but most weekends returned home.
Five months later, she permanently returned home and her choice of drug had changed.
She began experimenting with ecstasy.
“Once you take it, it’s enticing. It makes you feel as if you are flying.”
Cele was dating a married man and his wife had put out a hit on her life.
“She paid a man I happen to know R10 000 to assassinate me. Instead of doing this, he told me about it and that was the turning point in my life.”
The 30-year-old, who is unemployed and went on to have a fourth child, ended her story there.
“For more you would need to attend the launch.”