Rosettenville: 'What do you want? I can help you, my sister'

The drug dealers in Rosettenville are a pro-active bunch. During a visit by the Sunday Times to the area last weekend, an enterprising pusher took advantage of my car's slow pace to open the back door and hop into the vehicle.

Thankfully, he wasn't there to rob me.

"What do you want? I can help you my sister. I can give you cat for R150, cocaine for R350," he said, seemingly unconcerned about the police van parked just a few metres away.

He was a walking warehouse of illicit drugs, offering me everything from tik to marijuana.

I tried to stay calm, and told him I needed to draw money. There was also a car behind us by now, so he grudgingly got out and sauntered back to his spot on the pavement.

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The encounter last Sunday was just a day after angry residents of Rosettenville had torched yet another property in the area, claiming it was a den of drugs and prostitution.

I was on a tour of the area with DA councillors Tyrell Meyers and Faeeza Chame.

Our journey took us through the southern suburbs of La Rochelle, Rosettenville, Moffat View, Regents Park, South Hills and Turffontein.

The two councillors know the area well and have worked with the community for many years.

"I can understand their frustration, this has been going on for too long," said Meyers.

Our first stop was notorious Johannesburg Road in La Rochelle. The street was a hive of activity, with hawkers lined up on the pavement. This was where we had our encounter with the over-eager drug pedlar.

"I get this all the time, these people don't care who you are," said Chame after the incident. "They've done the same thing to me several times. We report this street to the police drug unit but did you see how many are selling [drugs] in that street?"

Nearby Andrew Street boasts three brothels. Chame said there had been several raids where girls as young as nine years old were found working as prostitutes.

Two years ago, Chame rescued a girl, aged about 17, who was originally from Durban and had been working as a prostitute.

"She said she could not remember how she got to Rosettenville. All she could remember was that she was at a restaurant in Durban, met a guy and chatted with him.

"She woke up in that house in Rosettenville. She had been drugged and was forced to sleep with men. She was bruised all over her body. Social workers and I arranged transport for her to get home, but I saw her back here after few days. She told me she couldn't cope without drugs and went back to prostitution."

Our final stop was a house in Berg Street that had been burnt down the previous night.

A woman in her early 20s was sitting outside, bruised and crying bitterly. A few people stopped to ask what had happened, but she refused to talk or accept help.

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A neighbour who had seen the gathering crowd said the young woman was one of the prostitutes living in that house and suspected she had been beaten by her pimp.

"I have no heart for these girls anymore. I also have a 21-year-old daughter and I don't want her to be exposed to all these things. They must just go," said the neighbour.