SUSTAINING RECOVERY: BAKAE CAMPAIGN REBUILDS LIVES IN HAMMANSKRAAL

By Sipho Ncube.

• The Bakae Campaign focuses on continuous support for recovering substance users, ensuring they do not relapse but instead gain access to long-term empowerment opportunities.A new facility at Roodeplaat Halfway House will combine rehabilitation with vocational training in trades such as plumbing, electrical work, welding, and carpentry.
  • MEC Faith Mazibuko led on-the-ground interactions with recovering users and new participants, emphasising government’s commitment to meeting people where they are and providing direct support.

The Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) intensified its fight against substance abuse last Friday (26 September) when it extended the Bakae Campaign to Hammanskraal, Tshwane North. The initiative focuses on reconnecting with substance users who have completed rehabilitation and ensuring that their recovery journeys are sustained through continuous support.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) strengthened its response to substance abuse on 26 September when it extended the Bakae Campaign to Hammanskraal, Tshwane North. The initiative focuses on reconnecting with individuals who have completed rehabilitation, supporting them to sustain their recovery, and creating pathways for skills development and reintegration into society.
Led by Gauteng Social Development MEC Faith Mazibuko, the team visited three hotspots where substance abusers are known to gather. At the train bridge station, MEC Mazibuko interacted with recovering substance users as well as those who are ready to seek help.
“Our Bakae Program is targeting those who have been to rehabilitation before to check on their progress; however, we are not turning away those who have not yet been admitted,” she said.
The Hammanskraal outreach also formed part of the build-up to the Mass Mobilisation and Admission Drive scheduled for October 27, in honour of the late former ANC President Oliver Reginald Tambo. During this drive, relapsed substance users will be referred to the soon-to-be-launched boot camp at Roodeplaat Halfway House. The facility will focus on rehabilitation, character building, and skills development in trades such as plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, welding, and tiling.
Among those reached by the campaign was Oupa Marima (27), who relapsed after completing rehabilitation at the Dr Fabian and Florence Ribeiro Treatment Centre in Cullinan in 2015. “I lapsed due to continuous personal challenges; however, I’m willing to go again because it is my wish to quit drugs and live a clean life. Since relapsing, I have been smoking nyaope and crystal meth, which is an expensive habit to maintain,” he said.
Through Bakae, the Department aims to go beyond treatment by linking former substance users with meaningful opportunities for skills development and training, empowering them to reintegrate into society and live productive lives.
This initiative strengthens government’s broader strategy to combat substance abuse by ensuring that recovery is not only achieved but also sustained.