WARNING: THE FOLLOWING STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.
“I’ve chopped someone up in pieces because of my gang….and we all agreed to burn him and scattered his remains.”
This is the chilling confession of a recovering drug addict, Lameck Dingumuzi Ndhlovu (35), from Munsieville in Krugersdorp.
He shed light on drug addiction and its detrimental impact on youth.
“I first went to prison at the age of 11 years. Someone was bullying me, but because I didn’t know how to react, I retaliated by stabbing him with a wire and I was arrested for attempted murder.”
Ndhlovu’s recollects some of his chilling memories of the beginning of a violent drug-dazed young life mostly spent behind bars.
“I’ve seen friends die. I have friends serving life sentences. I have done terrible things that will make your blood boil, I’ve chopped someone up in pieces because of my gang. About 7 of us stabbed him and chopped him up in pieces and we all agreed to burn him and scattered his remains.” he says.
These shackles of addiction ultimately left Ndhlovu isolated from his family and despised by his community.
He elaborates, “Drugs are nice and destroying things is nice, but there is a catch. There is pain that comes with all of that, the pain of walking past your home, but not being able to go inside. The pain of going hungry while there’s food in the fridge at home. The pain of stinking but not being able to bath. I lived under a bridge, I have been attacked by my community and they tried to kill me because they were all tired of me. It hurts to see people beat you to a point where you can’t fight back. They thought I was dead but God had a plan for my life.”
After years of multiple prison stints, Ndhlovu now wants his story to inspire hope in others who have suffered the same fate.
“Drugs will destroy your life. Drugs will take everything you have. I studied computer programming but I can’t go back to my job because of my criminal record, I made a lot of people join gangs. I taught many people how to use drugs. All those people still need help.” says Ndhlovu.
Ndhlovu hopes that his journey to recovery will be with as many companions as his journey to addiction.
