I’ve had enough. I want to be sober, says nyaope addict
TSHEPO Matsena, 19, wakes up from the streets of Pretoria and puts on his yellow reflector for another day as a car guard in the streets of the capital city.
Matsena makes around R350 in a day’s work parking and guarding cars in town, where he also sleeps.
With R350 Matsena can make a living and maybe even pay rent and live in a decent place in Atteridgeville or Mamelodi.
The problem is that Matsena is a nyaope addict. The drug has taken over the lives of teenagers across the country.
Those who smoke it are known around taxi ranks where they make some money to satisfy their habit.
Around 7am Matsena had already made R30 so he could get his first fix of the day.
By the end of the day he would have spent R300 on the drug and R50 on food.
He was narrating his burden to Pretoria News yesterday, saying he had had enough and wanted to quit the drug.
“I was kicked out from home in Mamelodi because of my addiction. I stole my mother’s laptop, television set and sound system just to buy nyaope.
“I’ve had enough now and want to quit!” said Matsena, who has been in and out of rehab in recent years.
He adds that on a bad day, especially on Sundays when there are not a lot of cars in town, he struggles to sleep because of withdrawal symptoms.
“It’s terrible when I have not smoked. The pain in the stomach is unbearable. You feel like you’d rather be dead and you know that the only thing that can solve it is to take the drug.
“I need help. Anything to get out of this habit. I want to get back home and apologise to my mother for the things that I have done … and get a better job.”
He said he had a near-death experience when he was caught stealing a car radio at the Bloed Street taxi rank.
“The taxi drivers beat me to neardeath. They put me in a drum full of cold water and ice in the middle of winter. I was convinced they were ready to kill me. I also wanted to die because I had had enough, but an elderly lady who was about to take a taxi saved my life. She pleaded with them not to kill me and they eventually let me go,” he said.
Asked what he was willing to do to get help, Matsena said all he wanted was to quit the drug and make something of himself.
“I want to give it another shot at rehab. The problem is all the rehabs around here don’t want me anymore because I have been troublesome to them.
“There is nothing I haven’t done. I have stolen and have ran away from all of them. It will not be easy to convince them to take me back. Where I sleep in Arcadia, police have started giving us trouble. It’s winter, I sold the blankets I was using to buy nyaope.
“My life here has come to an end … and if I don’t do anything about it immediately. I will die,” he said.
Matsena gave Pretoria News his mother’s cellphone numbers.
The Pretoria News phoned the number and once Tshepo’s name was mentioned, she hung up and asked never to be bothered again.
“She has disowned me and rightfully so. I have broken her heart. The only way for me to go back home is if I quit the drug and be clean,” Matsena said.