​A 30-year-old, Keorapetsoe Motsweneng from Tshwane Mamelodi East, is a former substance user who at some point was homeless.
She is not a service user anymore after abusing drugs for 11 years. Growing up, Motsweneng was a bright child who completed her grade 12 at the age of 17 and went on to further her studies at Tshwane University of Technology.

She was registered for a Diploma in Public Relations Management, finishing her first year without any difficulty. However, during her second year, she failed, which left her feeling disappointed and stressed.

As a result of her unexpected failure, she befriended people who were substance users and went to entertainment events regularly. It became her lifestyle, and as a result, she lost interest in studying. She began to be committed to the entertainment rather than her studies.

When she was 19 years old, she began experimenting with drugs such as CAT, crystal meth, and cocaine.

According to her, she was introduced to substance abuse as the result of peer pressure and her love for the groove lifestyle.

“You want to see yourself in every event, and to be able to keep up the energy, you need something to get you high and energetic. You know, when you start, you convince yourself that all is under control, not knowing that the substance is controlling you” said Motsweneng. She added that she began to smoke when she was working at Makro as a Sales Consultant, but after being involved with drug abuse, she ended up leaving school and losing her job. She ended up homeless when her parents decided to kick her out of the house since she was causing problems at home when she was under the influence.

During her 11 years while using substances she became a mother of four children and her mother took the first two children to raised them since she was not capable of giving the children the care they needed.

However, she went on to make two more children and her family could not assist her this time, and she continued to use substance, which made it impossible for her to take care of her children and began to struggle emotionally and financially. This went on until she decided to seek help from Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD).

She said Social workers helped her with safe shelter for her children and took her to rehabilitation for six weeks, but she ended up staying for eight weeks.

After being rehabilitated, Motsweneng went to pursue her beauty therapy qualification at Beauty Hub, which is funded by the Department. She is now working as an anti-drug ambassador and Drug Counselor at Thandanani.

Speaking at Tshwane Homeless Awareness Blitz, at Denly Shopping Center, last Friday, Motsweneng said “Substance abuse and being homeless normally go hand in hand. Most people start by smoking and then lose their homes and end up being homeless”,

She added that substance users need support, people should stop labelling and stigmatizing them. The further said government is pushing for safer and dignified shelters for the homeless, which she labels as good move, however she cautioned that for this to be realized, resources must be available towards fighting substance abuse and homelessness.