​Former drug addict Tsetela Ramafikeng is grateful to the Gauteng Department of Social Development for helping him quit his life of substance abuse and to focus on rebuilding his career.
The 29-year-old from Vanderbijlpark in Sedibeng still cannot believe he managed to kick the addiction. Ramafikeng said his addiction started at the age of 14 years. It started with a cigarette, then it was dagga, and before he knew it, he went deep into drugs. He said they used various types of drugs including crystal meth, tae/nyaope, doble, and cat among others.

“I still remember it was around 2009 when all this started and to be honest it was just peer pressure, and being too forward not knowing that this thing would ruin my future,” he added.

Ramafikeng said his focus now was to turn his life around after a decade of pain and sorrow due to addiction.

He added that he regretted the day he experimented with drugs. “I lost so much time because of drugs.”

After completing his matric in 2016, Ramafikeng went on to pursue his career in Graphic Design at Vaal University of Technology. However, he said that because he was so deep into addiction, he could not finish his studies.

“In fact, I failed in the first year and I was on NSFAS, you know if you fail the following year NSFAS won’t pay for you, so I dropped out of varsity and things were now getting worse, I remember I was blaming my parents that they left me in Qwaqwa while I was young”, he explained.

He said things changed after he was referred to Freedom Recovery Centre in Nigel where receive treatment for his addiction for three months. The centre also provided him with life skills. After completing his treatment, the department further referred Ramafikeng to the Bokamoso Information and Development Centre where he was equipped with aluminum fabrication skills.

He said the skill gave him a lifeline as he now has a few clients who come and request his services. He revealed that he always wanted to have his own company. “Even with the Graphic Design course, my intention was to have my own graphic design business, so aluminum fabrication skill came at the right time”.

Currently, Ramafikeng owns TMR Aluminum Fabrication Company, and he said he’s looking to grow his brand to become one of the well-known aluminum fabrication companies. He said sometimes it is not because we are not capable of succeeding or reaching great heights in our lives but because we make wrong choices.

He believes that his business will keep him away from bad company and focus on rebuilding his future after surviving a terrible period of addiction. He said although addiction delayed his future, he could not let it destroy it completely.

“I am glad that I am now on the right track to reshape my future after losing so much time because of substance abuse”, he added.

Ramafikeng said it was not easy to overcome addiction if you do not have a solid support system, especially from the family.

“It was so difficult, addiction is painful, you become useless, and nobody wants to associate with the person who is always high, but I always told my mother that one day I will stop using drugs”, he said. He praised his mother for the courage to continue supporting him even though he was continuously hurting her and making her a joke in the community. “I am proud of my mother who never gave up on me, she always believed in me when I said one day I would quit, to me, my mother epitomized the phrase that says, Women grab a knife on its sharp end I never felt alone, this woman continues to show me unconditional love”, he added.

“Today I can cut, bend and weld aluminum into a variety of shapes and thanks to the department, I am grateful for everything”.

He said there are a lot of young people with a huge potential out there who go through a similar path but his hope is that they should not give up. They must keep fighting.