PICTURE ESSAY: ‘If he was a rat, I would have poisoned him’
Cape Town – In a desperate measure to ensure that her drug-addict son stays out of trouble, Buyiswa Manono, 39, a mother from Brown’s Farm, near Philippi, has chained up her son, 17-year-old Asanda, who has narrowly escaped death a number of times. Asanda steals anything of value, including household items from his home, or even from neighbours, to feed his addiction.
Manono had to ask her brother to keep her microwave, TV set and other electrical appliances at night when she was working a night shift, fearing Asanda would steal and sell them.
The teen has survived a number of vigilante attacks, including when his struggling mother and neighbours had to beg for his life after four armed men in a Toyota Avanza stormed her house, wanting to kill her son.
Asanda had been accused of stealing money.
Manono pleaded with them not to kill him and also paid the R900 he had been accused of stealing.
“After selling all his clothes, he sold his brother’s, my Tupperware and my other belongings. He also went to Ramaphosa Informal settlement and stole R900.
“Four old men came here armed and wanted to kill him.He was sitting here drunk and didn’t even know what was happening. I had to make a loan at work to pay these men,” said Manono.
“If he was a rat, I would have killed him. If he was a rat I would have gone to Nyanga bus terminus to buy rat poison to feed him,” she said.
“A few days ago I was called by a neighbour’s child telling me that a mob was attacking Asanda. I wish that child didn’t tell me what was happening.
"I was prepared to buy stuff to clean his blood after they had killed him. He is better off dead than what he is doing. I have chained him because I am saving his life,” said the heartbroken mother.
Asanda is chained to the wall and next to him is a bucket to relieve himself.
“I do not mind that I will clean after he has relieved himself in the bucket,” said Manono.
Picture: Phando Jikelo / African News Agency (ANA)
Asanda’s sibling was forced to move out and is staying with his aunt because of his brother’s behaviour.
Asanda said his drug problem began when he lost his uncle who he saw as his role-model.
His uncle lived with him in Johannesburg.
“I failed Grade 9 three times because I changed schools every year. It was not because I was not clever, but in the past three years I have not finished a year in school,” he said.
His family sent him to a number of areas, including Johannesburg, to his grandmother in the Eastern Cape and in Malmesbury to get him away from his friends and start a new life.
However, this did not work.
Instead, his grandmother rejected him because he also got into trouble in the Eastern Cape.
Manono said: “My mother doesn’t want this child any more. He found new friends there and started smoking and stealing there as well.
“There is no male person who will be dealing with him.”
Asanda did not want to say much to his mother, saying he felt he had made too many empty promises.
He said he was willing to go to a rehab and start a new life in a different environment.
“I have made promises about changing and telling her about my dreams. If I can get help now, then when I come back maybe from any place of help, I can speak to my mother about my behaviour,” he said.
Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez’s spokesperson Joshua Chigome said: “Our Department is aware of the matter.
“A team from the department has been sent to investigate the matter and thus determine the full nature of assistance that is needed.
“We will be able to provide you with more information once the investigation has been completed.”
Manono asked anyone who can assist with her son’s drug problem to contact her at 0603587872 or her husband Andile Tukayi at 073 045 0113.