5 drug deaths in a week in Eersterus
In six months, more than 35 young people from Eersterus, Pretoria, have reportedly died from drug-related conditions.
|||Pretoria - In just six months, more than 35 young people from Eersterus, east of Pretoria, have reportedly died from drug-related conditions.
They either overdosed, committed suicide from depression caused by drugs, or were killed by drug dealers for failing to settle debts.
This week alone, five people lost their lives from drug-related incidents, according to the Eersterus Local Drug Action Committee.
Eersterus is known to exhibit a hazardous pattern of drug abuse. Drugs such as tik, Cat, dagga and nyaope are prevalent in the community and children as young as 10 years old, including girls, are reportedly experimenting with them.
In August, President Jacob Zuma conducted a community imbizo in Eersterus following a petition by parents asking him to help address the scourge.
The president said he had received a petition from parents complaining about drugs, high levels of crime and syndicates in the area.
Bobby Swarts is one of the parents still in mourning after losing his 26-year-old son two weeks ago.
He said his son Tommy was a heroine and khat addict and lost his life after an organ failure caused by the excessive drugs intake.
His father described him as a sweet young man who got involved in wrong things. He said he saw how drugs turned his innocent boy into a horrible monster.
“I would much rather be talking to my son Tommy than talking about Tommy,” a sombre Swarts told the Pretoria News on Thursday.
Three years ago, his son began to change when he started dating a girl who introduced him to drugs. “I noticed that he became restless and lost a significant amount of weight.
“Slowly but surely, I realised that my son was involved in drugs and in the end he died of organ failure and was thin as a matchstick; that’s the last image I saw of my son.”
Tommy started developing a growth on his leg caused by the injections he used to spike nyaope with. As a result he started limping and was in and out of hospital, his father said.
He carried on using nyaope and khat despite the growth in his leg until eventually his lungs collapsed and his organs failed. He died in his mom’s arms in hospital.
The other families were not willing to talk for fear of being victimised by the drug dealers, but confirmed their beloved ones died as a result of drugs.
In addition to the deaths, some young people have since ended up in ICU, many suffering from mental disturbances, while others have become vulnerable to human trafficking. There are those who are behind bars.
The head of the Eersterus Local Drug Action Committee, Desiree Fisher, said substance abuse was one of the biggest challenges the community was facing.
“You can find drug pedlars almost in every second street selling dagga, cocaine, nyaope and tik,” she said.
“The high increase of drugs in Eersterus has had negative effect on all sectors of society. It breaks up families, destroys livelihoods and contributes to crime and gangsterism in the very places we live in.
According to residents, things had gone from bad to worse since Zuma’s visit.
A parent who wished to remain anonymous said no one in the community was prepared to do anything about the problem because they were all scared of the drug dealers.
sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za
Pretoria News