SHARPEVILLE. – Phineas Ntsoele of Vuka is still struggling to come to terms with the death of his 20-year-old son Mpho Ntsoele, who recently died after taking Nyaope for five years.
Mpho was a student at Isizwe Sechaba Secondary School in Steelpark. “Mpho was a brilliant boy, he wanted to be a pilot. Nyaope stole my son’s dreams. His results in the past years attested to this. When I started to notice a change in his performance at school, I realised that there was something seriously wrong. He even changed in attitude and started stealing from us to feed his bad habit.”
The grieving father says what hit him hard is the fact that the person who ‘killed’ his son by selling him nyaope is known to the family:
“My son would tell me who his supplier was and when I confronted the person, he would just tell me that he cannot do anything because these kids are the ones that come to him.
“It is even more difficult to involve the police because they will say there is no evidence even when you have the name of the person who is selling this drug to the kids.”
Ntsoele states that he is concerned because the number of children dying as a result of drug abuse is growing fast. He states that instead of reprimanding the kids who are victims, the community should be fighting against the people that are selling this drug in the community.
The mother of the deceased, Rosy Ntsoele echoed her husband’s sentiments saying that the community should refrain from assaulting nyaope smokers but should instead take a stand against the people selling nyaope in the community.
Both Phineas and Rosy say that one life lost is enough: “We would hate to see other parents going through what we have gone through. This is why we urge the community to take a stand against people selling nyaope as they are the ones ruining the futures of the people who should be the leaders of tomorrow.”
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