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In an interview with City Vision, the Nyanga East-born Khanya Mgengwana said he managed to change his life after he had been on drugs for six years.
“It is never too late for anyone to change his or her life”. These are the words of a former drug addict who has been living a clean life for nearly 10 years now.
In an interview with City Vision, the Nyanga East-born Khanya Mgengwana said he managed to change his life after he had been on drugs for six years.
“I started using drugs at the age of 16 in 2009,” he said. “I was involved in drugs because of peer pressure. I started smoking marijuana before I moved to other stuff such as tik, Mandrax and cocaine.”
The 28-year-old said his life took a turn for the worse when he joined a local gang.
“Initially I enjoyed it,” he said. “I think it was in 2010 that we formed our gang, called East Crew Gang, and we were fighting with other groups from the neighbouring areas. The nice thing was that we did not commit crime in our area. We used to go and rob in other areas. Even my family didn’t know about some of the things I did when I was with my friends.”
However, his family discovered he was on drugs when things started disappearing from the house. He said at times he would steal his family’s belongings and sell them.
“When you are addicted sometimes you don’t think properly, especially when you are craving for a smoke. The other day my parents bought me a cellphone.”
“While I was sitting on the couch perusing it I thought of making myself coffee and bread and put the cellphone on the couch. When I got back from the kitchen I saw a cellphone on the couch. I forgot it was my phone. I put the coffee and bread down and took the phone. I ran out to sell it.” At the time he was high on drugs.
Mgengwana said he realised he had sold his phone only after his father had asked him about it.
It was then that his journey to recovery started.
He said his parents tried to assist him in stopping smoking, but he didn’t listen.
Mgengwana’s parents took him to stay with the relatives in various areas such as Samora Machel, Lower Crossroads and Langa, but nothing worked.
In 2013, Mgengwana said he was a victim of a gang war and spent almost a month in hospital after he was stabbed.
“I gave my parents a hard time. They kept warning me about the dangers of drugs and gangs, but I didn’t listen.
“The other day we were chilling with my friends in my area. We heard from young kids that there were some gang members from Crossroads that were looking for us. While we were still confused, we saw the rival gang coming. They chased us. I fell while I tried to jump over the wall, and they stabbed me numerous times all over the body and in the head.”
He added it was by the grace of God that he survived the attack.
Mgengwana said after he was discharged from hospital he continued smoking.
“I was still in pain when I was discharged. I was unable to use my hands and couldn’t walk properly. But as soon as my parents went to work I used to go to my friends to smoke.
“They used to put a zol in my mouth and I would just pull it because I was unable to use my hands!”
He said as a gang their motto was to kill whenever they caught someone. He lost at least eight of his friends in this way.
Mgengwana said it was on New Year’s Day in 2015 when his life changed for the better. He said his friend refused to smoke with him, accusing him of bringing nothing to the table.
“I went to the shack where we used to sit when we smoked. When I arrived I heard my friends talking inside and I knocked. They refused to open for me.
“I stood there for more than an hour hoping they would have mercy and open, but they didn’t.”
Mgengwana said they allowed other people to come in, but left him outside.
He said he got angry and went home and slept the whole day. At the time he had a pamphlet in his pocket he got from members of the Realistic Organisation, a non-governmental organisation that worked with ex-offenders and people with challenges of substance abuse.
He came across the group a few days earlier during an awareness campaign.
“When I woke up the following day, I phoned the number that was written on the Realistic pamphlet.
“I made an arrangement with them and went to their offices at NY6. That is how I joined Realistic. In the same year I went back to school to complete my matric,” he explained, adding that since then he has never touched drugs.
He said he attended all the programmes at Realistic and has never looked back. He said there are about eight people he assisted in changing their lives.
Mgengwana, who is now a facilitator for the organisation, said there is life without drugs.
