Overcoming drugs is not easy on anyone’s account. But by the help of the Greater Emalahleni-angels it is possible.
Pastor Given Mavasa and his team are working around the clock in an effort to get drug users off the streets. On Monday, August 13, a trespasser was caught yet again. Ms Maureen Scheepers, operations co-ordinator of the SACCW (South African Community Crime Watch) along with Jackaroo Park responder, Mr Rassie van der Lith responded to a call on a plot nearby.
“As soon as I approached the suspect from behind, he looked familiar. When he looked up at me I just said ‘no, not again’!” Scheepers said.
The man was caught trying to steal from the plot, after he was apprehended just last week, trying to steal from an empty house in Blancheville.
“He knows that he will be released when caught, because there is no complainant to open a criminal case. He is known to target empty houses. Residents were up in arms when he was let go just last week, after he’s been caught approximately seven times in different areas. Yesterday, police was dispatched to the scene and this time he did not attempt to steal from an empty house, so there was a complainant. We spoke to the owner of the house and to the police and agreed to send him to Sanca to try and help him. We feel that it is better this way, than to be locked up for a day or two. He will be back on the streets again tomorrow and back to his routine. He was handed over to us for rehabilitation and this is an attempt to try and break the cycle and to help him,” Scheepers said.
“The SACCW fully support Greater Emalahleni, Men @ Work and we phoned Past Given, before we took the man to Sanca.”
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Past Given said that he was enrolled for rehabilitation, but his foot is rotten due to untreated wounds.
“We will take care of it and of him. He is currently with family at his home in Klarinet. I just have a few things to sort out and I will get him into our program as soon as he is done at Sanca.”
It was previously reported that the Greater Emalahleni, Men @ Work is still a work in progress. This is where drug abusers get rehabilitated, are put into a program and go on short courses to develop their skills. Past Given said that they do have a building now, in Klarinet extension 3.
“The name is Thusong Development Centre, but we are still in desperate need of office furniture. We would appreciate anything second-hand. We also need men’s clothing and shoes, as well as toiletries to just bath and dress the people we help. They live on the streets. They do not carry a set of clean clothes with them,” said Past Given.
He added by saying that the five people they currently have are the ambassadors for the program.
“These are the people we take out to motivate others. They are clean and motivate others to break the cycle. We are trying to improve the lives of drug users and trying to get them off the streets,” Past Given concluded.
The man now in the Greater Emalahleni program.
He can be contacted on 060 702 7661 or his email address is emawok3@gmail.com. Mr Hurricane Zembe can be contacted on 071 612 7624 or his email is accounts@mlct41.com.
The direct link to the website is: https://www.ourneighbourhood.co.za/gem
