Drugs have infiltrated nearly every sector of society in Randfontein and despite the best efforts of police, the illegal drug trade seems to be growing.
The Herald recently spoke to the wife of a local addict about the effects that drugs have had on their family.
It is a well-documented fact that a wide array of people, ranging from your typical hard-partying teenager, to wealthy business people and even well-respected and influential people can be addicts.
The subject of this story happens to be a once well-known and widely respected businessman in Randfontein, who is, according to his wife and children, going off the rails after years of drug abuse.
“My husband is a very good man,” says a distraught *Samantha whilst fiercely trying to keep the tears and smudging make-up under control.
“Everyone who knows him, loves and respects him.
“He is a hard worker, very social, always smiling, and he never complains – in public anyway.
“To anyone looking from the outside in, we are the perfect family.”
According to Samantha, *Henry started taking drugs approximately 10 years ago, with some of his equally influential businessman friends.
“They would go out to local hangouts after work and end up partying the entire night, as I am sure many local woman will tell you is normal among men.
“But soon it evolved from a once-a-month thing, to a weekly thing and before we knew it, it was nearly every evening.
“As time went by and my husband’s drug usage started to drain his finances, his so-called friends abandoned him and kept partying, but he had by this time developed a serious habit, and he needed to still get his hands on his daily fix.”
Samantha says that at this stage, she still had no idea that her husband was using drugs.
“I knew something was wrong, but except for the fact that he went out most nights, it had not really affected me or the children at this point, so I still thought it was just a phase that would blow over.”
But, it only took a few years for this once prominent businessman’s company to start suffering and soon, the family was in the middle of a financial crisis.
“I found out that he was using drugs the hard way,” says Samantha.
“He became distant and angry, and as his business was not doing particularly well anymore money became a serious problem.
“I tried a million times to get through to him and nothing worked.
“One day, during a particularly heated argument when I, for the umpteenth time asked him what was going on with him, he fled to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
“He was in there a while and when he came out, he was suddenly calm and even friendly.
“He came up to me, confided in me that he was addicted to drugs, and promised that he would seek help.”
Henry booked himself into a rehabilitation centre and just as Samantha thought that things were going to get better at last, she received a call from the rehab centre saying that Henry had escaped by scaling a razor wire topped wall behind the centre.
So serious was his need for drugs, that he had cut himself quite badly in the process.
“He returned home a few days later and he promised that he could control it, but it wasn’t long before he scaled down his company to the point where he now works from home, and would only work when he needed money for drugs.
“He would leave home and head into Toekomsrus where he, to this day, frequents several drug houses staying out all night.
“He would not come home until he does not have a cent left.”
According to Samantha, Henry would go through whatever cash he was able to get his hands on, whether it was R50, or R5 000, in a single night.
It wasn’t long before he started taking deposits paid by his clients for work to be done, to satisfy his need for drugs.
“How he manages to still get the work done is a mystery to me.
“When he doesn’t have clients or money, he will wake me up in the middle of the night, crying like a baby, trying to convince me to make a plan for money.
“When he knows that I have money in the bank, he will eventually escalate his bid for cash from begging to threatening violence, while pushing me around, sometimes even slapping me.
“As we have lost our car and I refuse to give him my pin number, he would force me to walk to a nearby ATM with him in the middle of the night, leaving our children, the youngest of which is three, at home alone.
“When I don’t have money to give him, he will wake up our older children and beg them for any money they may have.
“The situation is unbearable.”
Samantha at one point resorted to threatening some of the drug dealers in Toekomsrus, saying that she will report them to the police if they continue to supply him with drugs.
“They just laugh,” says Samantha.
“They are not scared of the police because they pay their dues for protection.
“One of the more prominent drug dealers in the area is married to a police officer.”
Samantha says that leaving him is impossible as he always finds her and drags her back home.
“Also, I own this house and it’s paid up. This is the only thing I have in this world.
“Throwing him out does not work because he’s always back the next morning after he’s satisfied his need for drugs, friendly as ever, as if nothing’s happened.
“His family for some reason blames me for his condition, and has written him off.
“They want nothing to do with him, me, and even our children.
“It has gotten to the point where our children are terrified of their father.
“This once proud, descent and well-respected man has now deteriorated to such an extent that he does not care where he uses his drugs, often sitting in the lounge in front of the TV, surrounded by his children when he decides to light up a pipe of his drug of choice, which is crack cocaine, popularly known as rocks.
“He’s even gotten us in trouble a few times when he made debt with the dealers and was unable to pay them back as promised.”
Now, Samantha, stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no family nearby and a brood of young children to support, tries to keep everything together by herself.
Her relatively small income does not come close to providing effectively for her children and it is a constant struggle to get some grocery shopping done before Henry is able to somehow get the money out of her.
“My older children are too ashamed to make friends as they know that their father’s escapades have become the talk of the town among some circles.
“They cannot look anyone in the eye.
“My youngest is terrified of his father and this is severely affecting his personality. He is withdrawn, unnaturally shy, and afraid of nearly everything.
“I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Samantha says that despite his drug troubles, Henry has managed to remain a well-respected man in most of the community, especially at church.
“He is deeply religious and he holds very strong conservative views.
“He is very adamant about being respected, and he refuses, on religious grounds, to consent to a divorce.
“I have gone so far as speaking to the church leaders, who, to my absolute disgust, defended him, and refused to intervene and help me and the children.
“Instead, they advised me to pray for him. It’s laughable, but true.
And so, Samantha continues to live in this nightmare, trying her best to raise her children and keep the peace.
