Pensioners lose over R100 000 to drug lords
The man resorted to a suicide attempt after drug lords had stripped him of worldly possessions and his dignity.
LINMEYER – It is often said that the hardest part of being a parent is that you cannot stop the world from hurting your child. You can only be there to ease the pain.
A hundred thousand rands may well be thought of as a small price to pay for the life of your child. However, when that large sum is going out of your life savings account and into the pockets of drug dealers who prey on the weaknesses of loved ones, all of a sudden, the charge becomes too much to tolerate.
“This has been a ten year battle which has cost us so much,” revealed his parents, who are 74 (mother) and 75 (father) year old.
It apparently had also become too much to bear by a 44-year-old man who had cost his parents more than money; he also cost them their health and peace of mind. That was when the man was found by Linmeyer CPF member Don Hooper at the infamous Linmeyer Koppie, as he was about to commit suicide.
When the 44-year-old man realised the anguish he had put his elderly parents and his loving sister through, suicide seemed like the only option available.
After losing four vehicles bought by his parents and a bike with complete biking apparel purchased for him by his sister to Nigerian drug dealers at 4 Lang Street in Linmeyer, after they claimed ownership as payment for drug debts accumulated.
“After being in the South African Army, our son went overseas during a gap year to London; where he worked at a pub. That was when we suspect he got into drugs,” explained his parents. “After some time in London, he came back to South Africa, got married and had a child, who unfortunately had autism.”
The struggles the couple faced dealing with their child’s autism is what the family suspects may have driven him “deeper and deeper into drugs”.
During the ten year battle with drugs, the elderly parents said that their troubled son had luck finding good jobs with medical benefits and allowed him to get nice places of his own to stay.
“He’s always worked and had good jobs with medical aid, but he always lost them to drugs.”However, every time he got a good job, he would sink back into the drugs and would end up being fired and subsequently losing all he had worked hard to acquire during that short period of partial sobriety.
“At one point, the drug dealers had taken his car.” This being the first vehicle his parents had bought him to enable him to secure employment. “They said that he owed them R4 000, the amount which accrued after not paying the debt.”
This went on until the Nigerian drug lords had taken possession of four vehicles and a bike. The four cars his mother referred to were a City Golf and a Toyota Tazz, which they never got back. Two other vehicles that had also been taken by drug dealers were a Mazda and Fiat. Fortunately, both these vehicles were in the father’s name and they managed to get the Mazda and Fiat back, with the help of Linmeyer CPF members and Don Hooper.
After writing numerous anonymous letters to Moffatview SAPS about the drug activity taking place at 4 Lang Street in Linmeyer and 79 Lawn Street in Rosettenville, the elderly couple say no action was taken to rid the Linmeyer community of the drug dealing Nigerians.
This elderly couple said their son’s addiction to illegal drugs not only drained them financially and emotionally, but it also almost cost them their child’s life. Thousands of rands have also gone to paying for rehabilitation to get their son back on track, although, it seems they are finally getting closer to resolution as their son is going strong in a free rehabilitation programme and has been there for almost a year.
