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INLSA
Photo: Jeffrey Abrahams
Delft, South Africa, 2011. And the living is
not good. Youngsters have been turned into zombies with street drugs
taking possession of them, ripping their lives apart.
Sound like a science fiction movie? Well, it’s not.
It’s a local documentary, screened for the
first time in the city on Friday night, in which young tik addicts from
the area give a brutally honest account of the stranglehold the drug has
on them and what it has done to their lives.
Local production company Street Talk decided to make the movie to help curb the impact of tik abuse in their communities.
The
film, Tik: The Devil Within, was made by two of the company’s
film-makers Akhona Ndoloshe, 27, and Thembela Dick, 25, and was shot in
Ndoloshe’s home area of Delft where there have been many problems with drug abuse.
He said: “In my area there are a lot of
youngsters who drop out of school and they resort to drugs. Then they
find themselves in and out of jail with no future.”
Ndoloshe, who interviewed people affected by
drugs in the documentary, added that the film was centred around a group
of addicts who would all use, buy and speak about tik on camera.
He said: “At first it was hard to get them to speak about it on camera, but after spending more time with them it was easier.”
Dick, who held the camera throughout the movie,
added that although some of the scenes were frightening, the film was
also filled with eye-opening scenes.
She said: “We also filmed a 15-year-old girl
who was addicted to tik and was pregnant. I thought to myself, if she
continues like this where will she be in five years?”
Dick hopes that this movie will help educate young people in all areas of the Western Cape, including her area, Gugulethu.
Ndoloshe said: “My dream is that the film will
be seen by the government and they will decide to finally help the
people, because there is not enough being done at the moment.”
However, Grant Jardine, manager of the Cape
Town Drug Counselling Centre, has warned that scare tactics used in an
effort to curb drug addiction often had the opposite effect.
He said though the fight against drugs in Cape
Town had intensified, the situation remained as dire as before. “The
situation has remained the same, the only difference is the kind of
drugs. Tik and heroin have become the drugs of choice over dagga and
Mandrax.”
Jardine added that tik and heroin were incredibly addictive, which was a major reason for the increased usage of the drug.
He said: “It is highly likely that people will
try tik and heroin and become addicted, which has led to the drugs
having a bigger impact.”
*The movie will be screened on Cape Town TV (CTV) on Saturday night at 6pm and is available to view on www.streettalktv.com
junior.bester@inl.co.za - Weekend Argus
