THEMBISA’S ANTI-DRUG CHAMPION

Thato Matome is a recovering addict and the founder of the Tembisa Drug Rehabilitation Movement. “I’m working at Erwat Operations, I’m a father of 3 daughters, I’m 44 years old, and I’m staying at Difateng Section, in Thembisa”, he tells The Olifants.

The Tembisa Drugs Rehabilitation Movement was formed in 2022 and all who seek assistance and belonging can follow their pages on Tik Tok, Facebook, Google and YouTube to explore their world, “I’m helping my fellow brothers and sisters who are suffering from drugs addiction, as I’m one of the recovering cases, I have seen that drugs destroy our future, most especially our youth, and they also bring nothing but crime, slavery, killings and death within our families and our communities and beloved country of South Africa” he shares.

They are a group of recovering addicts that holds sessions every Tuesday at 644 Difateng Section Tembisa, giving hope to the hopeless and setting as an example that drugs can be defeated, and also go to schools to spread the word of the dangers of substance abuse, cause if we can’t do that, we will be failing our youth and our next future leaders. I also cook for them, as we know that some have been chased away because of stealing to feed their cravings. Now we cook for them with the support of parents, as we don’t have any sponsorship, so we use our own money, then after a few weeks of attending the sessions, I refer them to Pretoria to a home of safety, where they fight for their recovery. Thato explains’

They cater to all areas around Tembisa and neighbouring townships. As long as you can attend the sessions, you are welcome to join. Now he is currently working on an event that will be held on the 30th of August 2025 at the ST ELI APOSTOLIC MISSION Church, opposite Seotloana Primary School. The event will be the 3rd Annual celebration of fighting drug addiction and healing wounded parents who have gone through difficulties because of drug abuse. Now with this event, we want to cook for our wounded parents and share our positive stories of recovery, to bring hope, unity and healing that was caused by drugs, as we all know that drugs have torn apart our families, communities and our beloved country of South Africa.

I work closely with life-changing projects in Pretoria, and I have also partnered with Dinkinja Legacy NPO, Izikhethelo ZeNkosi, and Get Informed, which provides programming courses, job readiness training, and other programs to uplift our beneficiaries.