NYAOPE addicts in Mamelodi are being used as cheap labour by residents who take advantage of their vulnerability.

While addicts are notorious for petty crime such as stealing metal goods, including pots, some like Kgothatso Morolong and Johannes Sibulelo have found a legal way of feeding their habit.

They are now rendering cheap gardening and car wash services to finance their habit. But this is raising fears among concerned residents that this could mean they never kick their addiction.

Eddy Mnguni, chairman of the Mamelodi Community Policing Forum, said not only was the community financing the addicts but also exploiting them by paying them much less for their hard work.

"These kids wash huge taxis and do hard manual labour. People take advantage of them," he said.

The market price to wash a taxi is R50 but Sibulelo and Morolong charge R30, which is the same price as a nyaope fix. Mnguni was worried that the growing cheap labour may make the problem even much bigger than it already is.

"What happens when the piece job is not there and the kids need a fix? They will go back to stealing," he said. The solution is not to improve the situation but to eradicate it completely. Rehab is the only way to go."

Sibulelo said his car wash business has helped him to stop stealing.

"I used to steal from home and sell the goods to get high," he said.

He and Morolong started the business as a first step towards kicking the drug habit. Sibulelo's mother Salphane Sibulelo said her son used all the money from the business on nyaope.

"I t's okay since he is not involved in crime," said the unemployed mother of three in a defeated tone.

While there is concern about the situation, some residents are relieved that the addicts seem to have swapped their criminal ways for shovels and sponges.

"People can sleep in peace now and DVD players will not go missing [at night]. By supporting them we are not saying they must not quit the drug. This thing is not good for them," said Edward Thulane.

But, Thulane, a resident, said the community had lost hope in the addicts ever becoming clean again.

"Addicts will always be addicts and that will not change. It all depends on them," he said.

Pastor Mpho Semetjane from Your Kingdom Come Church said using the services of the addicts is about helping them as human beings and encouraging independence.

"Our support shows that we love them plus they need to live. The intention [of the jobs] is to buy food and clothes," he said.

According to residents, Sibulelo and Morolong are trustworthy businessmen who do not steal from their customers.