This archive report was first published on 14 July 2019.
South Africa is grappling with a heroin epidemic, with the highly addictive drug known as 'nyaope' wreaking havoc in cities and rural areas since the early 2000s.
According to a recent report by ENACT, an EU-funded project against cross-border organised crime, there are more than 100,000 regular heroin users in South Africa, with a trafficking market generating about 3.6 billion rand ($260 million) in annual revenue.
Heroin is often cut with methamphetamine, codeine, and other substances, making it a highly addictive and destructive cocktail.
Smoked in a rolled joint laced with marijuana or liquidised and injected, nyaope often leaves users with zombie-like sleepiness and a range of other health problems.
"That is why you find guys at street corners always sleeping," said a nyaope user in Soweto, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. "From the moment when you get the fix, you forget all the problems."
The drug is known by different names in different provinces, including 'unga' in the Western Cape, 'spices' or 'whoonga' in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and 'nyaope' in Gauteng.
Heroin moves from Afghanistan across the Indian Ocean to east Africa, down through southern Africa, and then inland for distribution.
"For 50 metres around us here, you can buy any drug," said Robert Michel, the director at the non-profit Outreach Foundation. "It's a known fact."
Heroin peddling is mostly done by gangs, organised crime syndicates, and corrupt police in areas like Hillbrow, one of the most notorious crime-ridden neighbourhoods in downtown Johannesburg.
"The worst part of it is that the police is not really doing anything," Michel said. "In many cases, what we hear is that the police and the drug dealers are working hand in hand."
The scourge has reached many children around age 15, and even some as young as nine, according to Hillbrow social worker Sizwe Bottoman.
"Others have stopped at school as it affects their brain so badly to an extent that they don't concentrate," she said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to reduce demand, cut off supply, and "ultimately free our young people from the harm that they cause" through a national drug master plan.
