The Gaborone drug world: lucrative, dark and dangerous!

QUEEN MOSARWE AND KAGO KOMANE

Sources close to the local drug business say although they are dangerous, drugs have become one of the most lucrative businesses in Gaborone. Many people, including the police, cannot explain the sudden rise in drug abuse, but what is certain is that the rise of this habit is an undeniable cash cow for drug dealers. A block of crack cocaine the size of a small soap bar, apparently, easily fetches over a quarter of a million pula a month. Sales are driven by the fact that cocaine is addictive. Customers are guaranteed to return again and again. “..a block of rock (crack cocaine, letlapa) can give approximately  P10 000 a day, with each smaller piece costing around P100. Thus calculated in a week, one makes an estimated amount of  P70 000 and P280 000 a month,” disclosed a source.
“…Customers are always ready for a fix. Upon distribution to runners, it is already known to whom the drugs will be given, that is why it’s very hard for the police to raid their places and find stock still with the kingpin or the runner,” he added, illustrating the clandestine manner in which the drug is dealt. This way, business is always guaranteed without anyone being arrested. The source was however quick to point out the dangers of the drug business: “The business of doing drugs is very lucrative; e bogadi bo gaufi tota but people have died because of this business.”
In this business, he says, one lives in two worlds. One of Truth and the other of Deceit – One has to be truthful to people he is doing  business with- for example, the Slayman (kingpin). This is someone that one  cannot afford to be untrustworthy  to if they know what is good for them. They cannot tell a lie to them.
Lies are told to people outside the circle because they cannot know that one is dealing drugs. So, to throw them off, one needs a story at the top of their minds, to divert their attention from things.
Our source is a person who is fully conversant with the business of drugs because he has used them before and knows people in the local drug world.  There are three roles in the drug world, he says; Drug Lord, Runner or The Pusher and Balwetsi. The drug lord is the owner and boss of the business. The runner collects drugs from the kingpin and delivers to those listed by the boss, while   Balwetsi  are the end users of cocaine, the hopeless addicts. They are considered “Patients” as they can’t function without using the drug.
“Most druglords are very successful;  dikoloi le matlo a manobono  a mangwe  a le  bonang mo, ke fa go gatang madi a ditagi fela… meneelo  ya madidimadi e e neelwang ko dikerereng ke madi a ditagi. Someone  would not have a job or business yet live large;  dealing with drugs should not be overruled in such a person’s life.”  According to the source , the most successful druglords are those who sell the drugs without using them; “fa o rekisa o bo o di dirisa, o fitlhela o feditse stock go sena madi a wa boneng.”