Nhlapo to tackle nyaope head-on

Former Bela-Bela Mayor Lucas Nhlapo has re-dedicated his time to tackling head-on the “nyaope” drug concoction abuse problem and associated challenges such as petty crime on the sidewalks and alleys of Bela-Bela.

Nhlapo has chosen the anti-drug campaign as his own “Thuma Mina” (Send Me) pet project, starting in Bela-Bela, and possibly taking it to other parts of the broader Waterberg, and beyond.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had, in his maiden State of the Nation Address earlier in the year, sent out a clarion call to South Africans to respond to the call to “Thuma Mina” (Send Me).

Symbolically, the campaign was borrowed from a song by internationally-acclaimed trumpeter and crooner, the late Hugh Masekela.

Speaking during a visit to a local church in the township in Bela-Bela on Thursday 7 June, Nhlapo said he would dedicate Youth Day Saturday June 16, to engage with the drug’s addicts and the broader ecumenical movement.

Nhlapo has been pounding the pavements of late, urging the often youthful drug’s victims to make themselves available for heart-to-heart engaments come Saturday, Youth Day.

The idea was taken further during an informal luncheon between Nhlapo, the church leadership and drug addicts, on Thursday 7 June.

He said like their predecessors from the Soweto Uprisings of June 16 1976, the present-day generation of young people had their own unique challenges, among these the abuse of substances such as the “nyaope” drug concoction.

Nhlapo was also in touch with the Ikageng Youth Centre along the R101 between Bela-Bela and Modimolle, to harness resources and information to deal with the drug abuse challenges.

He said resources allowing, drug addicts would be nudged to consider seeking help at the Ikageng Youth Centre, which continued to provide life skills such as small-scale farming and small business skills development.

– The BEAT