Gustav Thiel
HENNIE MARAIS, Western Cape director of the South African Narcotics Bureau, is resigned to his officers doing little more than watching the drugs coming into the city, and occasionally checking the flow. They no longer bother with dagga, or even with releasing information about their successes in drug convictions.
“There are 100 000 dealers in Cape Town who will never be caught,” he says. “The trade in the city is too big … drugs will never be eradicated. We will just do our job to the best of our ability.”
Somehow, Marais still manages to say that he is “optimistic”.
The reality is that Cape Town, in the past two years, has been given a new identity – as a world drug capital. South Africa has taken a central position on international drug routes that stretch from South America, around Europe to the Middle and Far East. And with that new position, crack cocaine has flooded the Mother City.
“South Africa, in particular Cape Town, has become a major depository for drugs,” says Scott Lindsay, the director of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre. “There is very little control over the flow of drugs in and out of the city. Drug use is rampant.”
The result is that crack houses have sprung up across the city, bringing with them a growing army of addicts and overdose victims who line the corridors of counselling centres.
“The hit provided by crack is far more intense than coke,” Lindsay says. “The problem is that the downer after the euphoria is far more intense and the drug is also far more addictive.
“People who were able to maintain a long- term drug habit on dagga, Mandrax or cocaine now find themselves unable to cope with crack.
“I can tell you many stories about people who maintained coke habits and could carry on working. Crack changed this. It is cheaper, used by everybody, and will make the drug problem here completely unmanageable if the authorities do not wake up. We are facing one enormous problem.”
The city’s drug dealers, of course, have never been happier.
Manuel (29) has been dealing in the central business district for 10 years – one of 1 000 big-time dealers, he says, who work for local South American, Italian, Chinese and Indian gangs.
Manuel’s Brazilian parents say he has a right to deal in drugs because he can’t find a normal job. Initially, he struggled: clients hailed from the Cape Flats and mainly wanted dagga and Mandrax. Now business is thriving.
“The public has no idea what is going on in the drug industry, because they are fed the wrong information about the amount of drugs that are going around and the amount of people that use drugs,” he grins.
“I am a small dealer, but I have more than 1 000 regular customers. There are more than 1 000 bigger dealers in the city, which shows how many people actually use drugs.” Other dealers back his claims.
While he’s talking, Manuel takes a call on his cellphone from his supplier in Gugulethu, the black township on the outskirts of the city. The supplier offers 1 000 Ecstasy tablets at R40 each, which Manuel reckons he can sell for R100 each.
“It is no problem to get rid of 1 000 Ecstasy tablets,” says Manuel. “It is now one of the most popular. It is not true that this drug is only used by youngsters going to rave parties. Rich business people also use it for entertainment and to improve their sex lives. The drug is cheap and gives a huge rush.”
The trade spreads across Cape Town, with the favoured narcotic determined by the average income in each area. On the Cape Flats, in poorer areas like Athlone, Belhar and Grassy Park, Mandrax, crack and dagga hold sway. In more affluent areas, cocaine and Ecstasy do well. School children in the CBD go for dagga and Ecstasy.
Steven (20) was studying chemistry until he decided he could do better selling cocaine, crack and Ecstasy from his campus room to clients in Bishopscourt, Constantia and Hout Bay.
“Models, people in the film, music and advertising industries and business people are really huge on these drugs,” he says. “You won’t believe the amount of coke I can move in a weekend, easily 100 grams. I’ve now started selling to politicians.
“I sell 2 000 Ecstasy tablets a week. Everybody wants the drug. I recently witnessed a shipment coming into Cape Town with 100 000 tablets. It was amazing. People are getting rich off the drug trade and it is not only the gangsters who are involved anymore.”
A gram of cocaine sells for around R300, Ecstasy for R100 a tablet, Mandrax R20 and crack around R70 for one rock.
Dagga is still by far the cheapest, going for around R50 for a full plastic bank bag and around R20 for a stuffed banana leaf. Capetonians now openly smoke dagga at several nightclubs and pubs. “We’re only going after hard drug dealers,” Hennie Marais notes.
Peter (21), who looks after cars in a CBD car park, buys dagga for his clients as easily as he buys cigarettes. He has a rather tougher time securing crack, mainly from crack houses in Woodstock. “These people will kill you in a second,” he says. “You don’t fuck around there.”
Gatiep, an old man from the Cape Flats, runs a crack house in Woodstock. He’s reluctant to talk. “What do I have to gain?” he says. “I want everything nice and silent. Crack is now finally making me rich. Fuck off and write what you like.”