Lockdown offers homeless substance abusers a platform for change
Molefe lost both his legs in 2004 when he was electrocuted in Heidelberg.
Molefe and Lebusa, who are from Evaton and Residensia respectively, met in Lenasia and have been friends since.
Lebusa pushes Molefe in his wheelchair while asking for money at intersections to buy food and drugs.
“We are addicted to nyaope. We smoke it three times a day. Life for us is going to be difficult if we don’t have access to drugs. We need it to survive.
“I started doing drugs at a young age. The government must take us into rehabilitation centres, not shelters. Some of our friends have fled from those shelters and are back on the streets. We don’t have instructions to follow, we are on our own,” said Molefe.
Lebusa backed Molefe, saying he was not ready to leave the street life.
READ | Analysis: Majority of Gauteng’s homeless still on the streets despite lockdown
“This is our life. There are no drugs in shelters. How and where are we going to get our fix? Only if they give us drugs daily, then we will go to those shelters. If not, they must leave us alone. We are afraid of dying in shelters, due to drug cravings,” said Lebusa.
Nhlanhla Mabaso, from Zondi in Soweto, could not remember when he left his home, claiming he spent most of his teenage years on the streets.
“I left home because of drugs. I was addicted at a young age. I am not going to any shelter. I am here to stay,” he said.
Mabaso said he had been to a rehabilitation centre once, but relapsed.
“I left the rehabilitation centre clean. I relapsed and returned to drugs. Here, we sleep on pavements and roam streets asking for money to buy food and to feed our addiction.
“If they are going to take us, we are going to run away and return to the streets,” Mabaso said.
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