FACE TO FACE WITH THAMI
DESPERATION: Time to feed. Image: INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
Charles Maleka
“Eh pop! Ayi man, scamban’?”
5, 2. Eish! 6,3 yeses!”
Thami is playing dice with a group of friends, next to Magogo’s tavern, ext 2. Diepsloot. He looks preoccupied to the hilt, as if everything around him, including the people he is playing with have utterly sunk into oblivion.
“4, 5! Yes! Ngipopile.” He said, as he immediately rakes up his dark slim hands around a school of ten rand notes and coins, that idled in the middle of the dice parchment.
His face beamed with a broad and lustrous smile of satisfaction, that appeared to be mocking the anxious faces of other participants. He has won his round, after a few efforts of strenuous attempts.
Thami has been playing dice for virtually five years now, since Grade 8 for merely one reason, that is to feed his pugnacious addiction of nyaope, the cataclysm he told me had led him to drop out of school in Grade 9, 2014.
“Ezinye izinto ipeer pressure nje.” He said. “Eish! Uyazi umasihlangene siamajita, awufuni ukusalela e muva.”
He was introduced to drugs and nyaope by a late friend, uMawaza, formerly known to many as William. Mawaza was a young local sny man, that used to sell drugs and marijuana in schools and street corners.
The guy I’m told, had a secrete connection with Nigerian kingpins and some police men in the community, that used to supply him with drugs to sell in schools and community.
Every fortnight, these very cops would come to his place to collect the money he’d made from selling their merchandise.
Although Thami had witnessed the excruciating death of Mawaza, who was burnt to death in his shack in Diepsloot, ext 1, by a group of annoyed community members, who grew sick and tired of his malicious act in the community, He (Thami) never stopped using drugs nonetheless.
“Ayi mfo! Lo mjita loyo, wa fela isono zakhe.” He said
“Manje ke mina, why kumele ukuthi ngiyeke?”
“So how much do you spend per day, buying nyaope?” I asked, as we sat on a bench in the park, in Diepsloot, ext 8.
“It depends nja yami, if ngidlale kahle emaDice-ini, ngi spenda six hundred rands.”
“Really!”
“Yah!”
“If awudlalanga kahle khona?”
“Khona ke, ngi speda boma three hundred or less or else ngiya recykila”
Many young people in our society, especially those who do recycling and are playing dice and cards as Thami, are into drugs and Nyaope.
The chairperson of the SA Medical Association, Mzukisi Grootboom had said one day, the abuse of illegal and over-the-counter drugs was seemingly growing and needed to be dealt with urgently.
He also said South Africa continues to be the regional hub for drug trafficking in and out of the country.
The SA National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) found that 15% of pupils admitted to using over-the-counter drugs to get high.
The same study found that 11.5% of pupils had tried at least one drug, such as heroin, Mandrax, sugars (a mix of residual cocaine and heroin) or tik.
One man in Diepsloot had decried concerning these boys’ acts of thievery as a big headache to the community, saying the boys are breaking into their homes and stealing power cables as well.
“Basimane bana ga baya loka nie! Kgobane baya re utswetsa.” He said.
Although the community seems to have put up with this, these young lots have become the community’s first enemies as far as stealing is concerned.
“Thami tell me, when and how did you start smoking in general?”
He looked away for a while, as if trying to register the question in his mind. He worked his hands around his face as a result, before he’d look back at me in response.
"Eish mfetho uyazini neh!” He said scratching his head. Ýonke into iqala ngokudlala.”
He flashed a short transient smile, his face downcast, and killed it away and kept his serious look afterwards.
“Nkhumbula ngisa khula, bengithanda ukudlala nge peni, ngiyenza ingathi ngiya pema.”
“Mm!” I said, attentively, compelling him to continue even further.
”And bengino gu dopa amalose straw, bese ngiyawapema, and yonke into ya qala njalo.” He produced a stub of zolo, he’d rolled from rizler. He stuffed it in between his black dry lips and gingerly kindled it.
“But don’t you wish to stop smoking one day?” He puffed out into the nearest of space and watched as the wisp of smoke meticulously curled in mid-air, and finally going up in smoke.
“Yah! Ngiya fisa mfetho.” He looked at me with red narrowed eyes. “But hayi manje, ngoba eish! Ngine zinto ezinghluphayo jo!” He sighed heavily and rested his cheek on his shoulder in deep ponder.
The reason he is not ready to stop smoking anytime soon, is the feeling of having lost his mother, who died from a car accident in 2013 and from then he said, had hardly coped with her demise.
“But have you sought some counselling or spoken to somebody at least?”
“I tried mfetho, bomaSANCA, bomaSonto, but mfetho kunzima.” He looked away and kept silent for almost forever. I could see his fragility coming to break, a long and sluggish string of tears coursed down his face.
“But at least you can talk to your father.” I said, trying to alleviate the situation. “Ubaba neh!” He thought for a while.
“Ayi! Lomjita wangi shiya ngisasemcane mfo. I’m one man now.
“What happened, did he pass away as well?”
“Ayi, lomjita wa ngishiya ngisase mcane, wa shatumunye umfazi.” He wiped off a run off of tears on his face.
The motive many young boys find themselves involved in drugs, alcohol and other illegal substances, is based on domestic abuse, broken homes and unemployment, not only does peer pressure play a demonic role in this, but also the mentioned. All these must not be ignored, not even at the blink of an eye.
One of his class mates at Diepsloot Combined School, Nokuthula Mazibuko said Thami was an A student in Maths and Physics.
“Thami was a good leaner, always out tops in Maths and science. He used to debate a lot as well.”
"I’m told Thami, that you used to kill maths and science, tell me about that.” His face came to life at the question, and for this reason, his lips metamorphosed into a wide ravishing smile hard to resist. “Ah! Mfetho uMaths, bengiwushaya jo! Abo Geometry njalo njalo.” He then threw his hand away enthusiastically.
“Is there any crime you must have committed because of drugs?”
“Vele mfethu, uqcabangani?” He opened his eyes wide. “I remember mfethu, amajita a bamba inyindoda inkuntsi le e 11, after that bambulala ngoba he was trying to defend himself.”
“So what happened afterwards?”
“They were all arrested and mina I went home eMtata.” He said.
Thami ran away from Diepsloot after him and friends stabbed a man to death 2015, when they tried to rob him in Diepsloot, North of Johannesburg.
“So going back to school, is it something that is possible for you?”
“Ngiyafisa, but sengimoshe iskhathi jo.” He said, regrettably.
The only thing Thami feels he must do now, is finding a job and probably amend time he’d wasted.
He said, he would like to undergo rehabilitation and start a new life afterwards.
