The Nyaope Boys — ‘There is one way in; your way out, it’s only when you are dead’

10 May 2023

Increasing numbers of young people on the streets of Johannesburg are battling an addiction to the drug nyaope. In this series, Maverick Citizen interviews young people and their parents in Soweto about their personal experiences of the problem.

Part Two

Mandlakayise Hadebe (18), not his real name, from Rockville Soweto, said nyaope can put you in hell.

“When you are high with it, you do things that put you in danger. You don’t care if you get caught or killed; when you are in cravings, you do whatever it takes to get money.”

Last year he was beaten by community members when they found him selling an old computer screen.

“I nearly died because of jumping the wall of people I don’t know; I nearly died because of the old screen that was sleeping in the rain and winds. But the people didn’t have mercy, because I’m the one who provoked that family.

“I didn’t see it as if I’m doing a crime of theft; in my mind, I saw a useless screen that I could sell and get money to smoke. Our communities are not seeing us as human beings any more. They are seeing us as animals that deserve to be killed.

“I started to smoke nyaope last year. I didn’t know once you smoked it there is no turning back. You can’t live two hours without smoking it, it demands more after more. You can sell your mother and father when you are in the cravings.

“Nyaope changes your life in seconds, everything you see, you think about how you will sell it. I lost my clothes and my family. Look at me now, I’m not bathing like before, I hate myself, but there is nothing I can do. I don’t have time to bathe, I need to make money to buy one smoke,’’ he said.

Read more on Daily Maverick: Dark cloud of drug abuse hangs over schoolchildren in Soweto

Hadebe said the people dealing nyaope make sure that you come back to buy more.

“You’re forgetting about your morals of respect. You forget about what your parents taught you about. A R3,000 phone, you can sell it for R200 in the streets, we need fast cash.

“I went to the best schools in town; my parents invested in me, but look where I am now. Now I’m stranded in the streets like I don’t have a home. I took my mother’s jewellery box, full of beautiful jewellery inside. I sold everything for R150. I wanted R500, but the people I sold to took advantage of me because I’m a nyaope boy, it’s the way they’re calling us drug addicts.

“I don’t think I will be able to go back to my home. It’s better here in the streets, I don’t want my family to see me like this. Look at my body, I have been beaten like a dog. I hide myself when I see my family at the taxi rank because it will be a big shame to see me dirty like this,’’ said Hadebe.

He said he did things that he was not proud of, “things that if they can come out to the public none will forgive me”. He prays every day that when he is dead, his mother will find his body and bury it.

‘Losing my father’

Nelson Letsholo, not his real name, from Shawela, Soweto, is 17 and works as a car guard at Diepkloof Square. Letsholo said his drug habit had made his father depressed, and he now has heart disease. If his father dies, it will be his fault, he said.

Letsholo said when a girl who was smoking nyaope was arrested, the police told her to show them where she got it.

“When the police knocked at the door, my father opened. The police asked if he knew me. My father said he did, so I was arrested. When the police took me to the van my father said to me, ‘Ke lekile tshohle matleng aka ho moetsa motho setjhabeng’ [I tried everything in my power to make you a better person in the community).

“My older brother bailed me out, but my father was admitted to hospital because of depression. I regret what I did to my father; maybe he would be free from depression if I didn’t involve myself with the nyaope gang.

“I ended up not [just] selling it but also smoking it. I sold everything that was my share from my father’s inheritance. My father told us it would be better if he shared everything while he is still alive — jackets, shoes, watches and other stuff. I even stole one of the car’s batteries, and it was a new one,’’ he said.

His family forgave him for being arrested. But after coming back from prison, it was like he “got possessed by demons”. He behaved badly, insulting his mother and everyone in the family. The family started avoiding him.

“That was when I decided that it’s better to leave them in peace, because I saw that one day these people will kill me. I couldn’t stop selling nyaope, because the people I’m working with are not good people. I can’t go to the police because they have police friends, they’re drinking together on weekends,” said Letsholo.

“When you are in the nyaope business you can’t go out; no matter, you can go to the rehab. But when you come back, you will begin where you ended your duty. There is one way in; your way out, it’s only when you are dead.”

Terrorising the community

Thokozile Gumbi (44) from Orlando Soweto, said the Nyaope boys don’t have respect or humanity. They enjoy hurting and terrorising the community.

“A rubbish bin is costing us R500 at the municipality, but these drug addicts are stealing them and selling them for R50 or R150. We can’t leave our garden tools outside, because someone’s child will steal them. What kind of life are we living in South Africa?

“But at the end of the day, the government says we shouldn’t take the law into our hands. If you go to the police, they’re telling us that they have too much on their hands. They say they can’t investigate a rubbish bin.

“No matter if you can put a nyaope boy on fire alive, when he comes back from hospital he will come and take something or steal again.

“We don’t wash our clothes and leave them on the washing line unattended. I swear to a living God you will find nothing on the line. If you don’t want stress, wash and wait outside for your clothes. You see now, we can’t enjoy life because of nyaope,’’ said Gumbi.

She said that people know who is selling nyaope in their community.

“But the problem is, you can tell the police, but you will be alone with your family when the drug dealers knock at your door.”

This is because “the same police we’re reporting to are the same police we’re seeing enjoying a soft life with the drug dealers”.

Sanca responds

Maverick Citizen approached the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca) for comment on the nyaope problem.

Bolokang Molefe, Sanca’s marketing manager in Soweto, said many young people smoke nyaope because of “peer pressure”.

“Some get hooked unaware. They are handed a rolled joint of dagga with nyaope and get overtaken by its addictive effect.

“The majority of them get money from doing piece jobs, such as car wash, collecting scraps, car guarding, etc. But some get the money from conducting criminal activities.

“Nyaope users steal from their families, causing a lot of frustrations, stress and fights among family members. Most family members, especially parents, end up suffering from high levels of stress, and some end up having severe health complications. It also affects marriages and relationships.’’

Molefe said on average Sanca refers five children a month between the ages of 13 and 17, and eight youths above 18, for rehabilitation.

However, “most of the users return to the same environment after coming back from inpatient centres. They face the same friends, the same drug lords who are well aware that they are returning from rehab. So in most cases they would go as far as offering them a free stash to prove if they are rehabilitated and that is the greatest trigger.’’

Maverick Citizen tried to get interviews with two rehabilitation centres in Soweto, but both declined to talk to us. DM/MC

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Part Two

‘Losing my father’

Terrorising the community

Sanca responds