Series: Driven By Passion, Here Are The Zimbabweans Trying To Eradicate Drug Abuse In The Country

When Tapera Mhandu, 24, left rehab five years ago after a long battle with drug addiction, he was determined to stay clean. Hooked onto dangerous substances at just 19-years-old, he spent a gruelling three months in rehab where he had his damascene moment - he finally saw the light.

By Emmanuel Kafe,

Harare, Zimbabwe

Now drug free, Mhandu has vowed to clean up the streets of Zimbabwe and help addicts on their journey to freedom.

Fuelled by his passion to foster change in the society, he started the Sanitize the Streets Movement.

“All it takes is someone to believe in you,” he told AWP Magazine.

It was his friend who took him to a Church-run rehab facility in Gweru in central Zimbabwe and he never looked back.

He regrets wasting five years taking illicit substances but is hopeful about the positive impact his organisation will bring to his community.

“I have lost five years of my life. I cannot get it back, but I can help somebody else,” he explained.

Sanitize the Streets help young people tackle drug addiction by connecting users to treatment centres and convincing them that seeking help is not 'weak.'

In our first series, having spoken to Albert* - it was clear that asking for help can be a difficult thing because there is still stigma surrounding mental health issues and people have their own assumptions and misconceptions on drug users.

“Apart from being pushed by the teenagers it was also after the realisation that the Covid-19 national lockdowns had left most idle youths at the mercy of alcohol and drug abuse that gave me more reasons to pursue this initiative,” Mhandu added.

The program has successfully rehabilitated 10 men and a woman, who was hooked onto crystal meth in Mbare, one of Zimbabwe’s most populous townships.

His passion to see a drug free community has been lauded by community leaders who have recently also joined in the fight against crystal meth abuse.

Mhandu recounts how he rescued two teenage boys from the vice.

“The boys were irritable and sweating. We talked to them until they agreed to go for treatment. With the help of both their parents we got them admitted to a Psychiatric Unit at Parirenyatwa Annexx,” he said.

Zimbabwe does not have publicly run rehabilitation centres while those struggling with addiction are bundled into mental asylums like Wilkins in Harare or Ingutsheni in Bulawayo.

What makes Mhandu’s work more important is his ability to interact with youths and convince them to check into an institution.

He has walked this road before: from smoking cannabis in his early teens, heavy smoking and drinking by the time he left college to sniffing crystal meth in the streets of Mbare where he worked as a tout.

In other words - Mhandu knows how deadly drugs can be.

How bad is the crisis?

The abuse of crystal meth has been described as a “silent pandemic” in the country’s townships where it has wreaked havoc, destroying lives.

Although statistics of people currently enslaved by drugs are scarce, the numbers are far from low – and as drug addiction grows, poverty keeps many young people out of rehab centres.

Recent statistics from the Zimbabwe United Nations Association (ZUNA) noted that 65 percent of Zimbabwean youths suffer from substance abuse induced mental illnesses.

The increasing number of drug addicts in the country has been attributed to unemployment, Covid-19 and fewer treatment centres.

In September 2021, a report from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) revealed that the poverty datum line (food poverty line) was $ 4,734 (US$35) for one person per month.

More than half of Zimbabwe’s adult population is living below US$250 per month.

Yet the price of recovery from drug addiction is beyond the reach of many poor families, with rehabilitation in a private institution fetching around US$1,000 to US$3,500.

Mhandu said the pricey road to recovery is the reason why drug addiction had reached crisis levels.

He urged the community to work together to combat drug abuse, through society mobilisation programmes earmarked at cleaning the streets.

Unlike Mhandu, some seek to profiteer from the drug crisis.

Isit possible to provide a good service at a low fee?

A newly built drug rehabilitation centre in Harare, Mandipa Hope Rehabilitation is working to help hundreds of drug addicts but the fee is beyond the reach of many families here.

When I visited the place, on the loggia was Musa Mbane 33 (not real name) a former drug user, pale faced and reading a pacesetter novel.

As his cravings grow, the shivers intensified and Mbane became agitated.

Mbane is one of the 10 patients at the centre. He had been using drugs for the past 11 years after a group of friends tricked him into taking his first smoke.

“It was all lies, I got hell bound and it affected my family, I won’t go back to using drugs, I am pleased with the changes I am experiencing,” he confided in me.

Mbane is indebted to his family for finding a treatment centre for him.

Carole Mashingaidze Tapfumaneyi, the director of the facility said the rehab had renewed hopes for addicts, many who had access to hard drugs.

After six months in operation, the centre has successfully rehabilitated 15 crystal meth users.

“I was driven by the need to help my fellow countrymen after I realised that most private rehabs were charging exorbitant fees which were beyond the reach of many – so we came up with something people can afford – at least,” she told AWP in an interview.

“The money factor came after we had already decided we needed to help address the drug addiction crisis in the country” she explained.

The rehab centre charges $US900 for a three-week treatment.

Asked why the centre charges US$900, she explained that the organisation is not profit oriented and the amount catered for the services rendered to patients.

“Most of that money goes to psychologists, psychiatrists who are expensive and in short supply in the country.

“The other money caters for bills, food, accommodation, nurse aids and social workers while the other money is channeled towards security who take care of some patients who tend to be violent,” she said.

The rehabilitation centre helps by giving clients medication to suppress withdrawal symptoms while patients also also take part in regular group counseling.

In other words - in order for Carole to provide high-quality services and keep the organisation running she must charge this fee.

The country has a shortage of health professionals, according to the Ministry of Health in their National Mental Health Services Strategy, (2019-2023).

Out of nearly 16 million people, Zimbabwe has 17 psychiatrists, 14 clinical psychologists and 917 mental health nurses.

To deal with the drug abuse menace, Zimbabwe proposed a review of the National Policy on Drug and Substance Abuse and an amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Act.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently appointed an inter-ministerial task force to find solutions to drug abuse.

Many are pinning hopes on these latest interventions by the Government as drugs continue to destroy lives.

[Click here to read PART 1 of this investigation]

Among the short term measures proposed by Cabinet is the implementation and the operationalisation of the Zimbabwe National Drug Master Plan and Treatment, Rehabilitation Guidelines of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorder of Zimbabwe.

Government will also identify and upgrade the existing mental health institutions that will admit affected children, youths and adults including a dedicated child psychiatric hospital in each province.

The county also seeks to establish a National Call Centre for drug and substance abuse which will provide online psycho -social support and on its long term measures, the government is working on an Integrated Skills Outreach Programme.

Local organisations like the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (ZCLDN) have bemoaned government laxity in dealing with the abuse of dangerous drugs.

“We are encouraging the Government to increase its mental health budget, establish rehab centres and introduce harm reduction programs to mitigate these challenges,” Wilson Box, director of (ZCLDN) told AWP.