Vusumuzi DubeSimba Jemwa, Sunday News Reporter
THABANI Ncube was able to turn his life around and now he’s helping others do the same.
The 44-year-old from Cowdray Park in Bulawayo started using drugs when he was 16 years old in 1994 after moving to South Africa with fellow high school drop-outs he grew up with, but he has been clean for seven years.
And after he had his first hit of crack cocaine, he was hooked, doing anything and everything to get the next fix.
Ncube now calls himself ‘ThActivist’ and he is starting a movement called #DrugsMustFall.
He wants to go into communities to teach people about drugs and substance abuse.
“Growing up, I was involved in criminal activities such as petty theft.
When I moved to South Africa with my friends after dropping out of school, I upgraded to robbery and other aggressive crimes,” he said.
He spent 15 years in jail in South Africa mostly for drug and robbery offences.
After he was released from prison in 2015 following a close to nine-year stint for drug trafficking, he found staying clear of drugs difficult but was able to turn his life around.
“I booked myself into a rehabilitation centre.
My dream is to build a rehabilitation and trauma counselling centre in the community.
I can’t help everyone but making a difference in the life of one person is something,” he said.
Ncube recalled his struggles after his last prison stint.
On New Year in 2014, after being given time off at the house he was residing and working in, he had gone to Hillbrow in search of a drug fix.
He could not find any and returned to the house frustrated at himself.
“I thought to myself, how come every time I am given freedom, I go back to drugs,” he said.
Ncube, a born-again Christian, prayed and woke up early the next morning and read the Bible and listened to worship songs.
Two months after he started the ritual, he was in a public toilet when he found a straw of drugs on the floor, which he flushed down the toilet bowl.
“This gave me (a feeling of) victory… Last time, if I were to see drugs, I would surely yield to the temptation, but now I can resist,” he said.
The former gang member feels that imparting his own experience is an important step in helping offenders transform.
He said: “They will think ‘This fellow with tattoos, (many) times in prison… if he can change, I also can change.’”
The part-time taxi driver is also part of an effort to establishment of an organisation called Zimbabwe Anti-Narcotics Association (Zana) where he and other volunteers will share their experiences with drug and substance abuse as well as offer offenders a way to help them overcome their addictions.
Online Reporter