Story by Tamuka Charakupa
YOUTHS have been implored to shun drug and substance abuse amid increasing numbers of young people in prisons as a result of the scourge.
A final-year student at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), Tawanda Mapanda was once the pride of his family as he was a bright student, a top performer, and a leader among his peers.
Today, he wakes up behind bars at Chinhoyi Prison.
Like many students, he is a victim of peer pressure.
The need to belong, to cope, to escape whatever it was, drugs seemed to offer a temporary answer, but the supposed answer came at a devastating cost.
While on attachment, Tawanda became a drug addict and that influenced him to steal from his workplace until he met his fate.
Today, he is not ashamed to share his story with the public, and his message to fellow youths is very clear.
“I am serving five years for theft and drug peddling. When I started it was for fun until I could not stop. I lied to my parents that I was not getting any allowance at work so I was using the bus fare they gave me to buy drugs. When they found out, I ran out of money yet I was already an addict. I ended up stealing at my workplace and one thing led to another until I got arrested and now serving time,” Mapanda said.
Being hero-worshipped at the ‘base,’ as the drug lord’s meeting place is commonly referred to, Tawanda ended up in yet another scandal, a healthy scare.
In prison, he could not eat solid food at a time when he was under medication fighting yet another problem a sexually transmitted disease.
“At the base, I became popular because I was able to buy drugs for everyone present. I ended up being the lover boy and engaged in unprotected intercourse and got infected. In prison I was struggling to eat solid foods having to rely on porridge only yet not eating was not an option given that I was under medication,” he said.
Behind bars, he is trying to rebuild and reconnect with his estranged family.
Through counselling and rehabilitation offered by Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officers, Tawanda is still on his journey to sobriety while also finishing his studies.
His story is a cautionary tale not just of personal setbacks, but of the hidden struggles many students face, and the choices they make.
