THERE are only seven government-run rehabilitation centres in the country.

According to the national Department of Social Development, there are only seven public treatment centres in the country and they are not "adequate".

"The department is busy building other five public treatment centres in Limpopo, Northern Cape, North West, Free State and Eastern Cape," said department spokeswoman Lumka Oliphant.

She said the facilities also become full seasonally, particularly during the festive season.

Veronica Banks, a counsellor with 25 years of experience in addiction counselling, says it does not matter how many rehab centres there are in the country, if the addict's emotional needs are not dealt with then they will fall back into addiction.

"Addicts have unlearned social skills in rehab and while doing drugs," Banks said.

She said because their emotional needs are not fulfilled in rehab, they often relapse. "A lot of them come from broken homes, fatherless homes and if that is not dealt with then they will relapse."

She said some rehabs do not work, while others are moneymaking schemes because ridding them of their addiction cannot be done in six months.

"The truth is they do get bored outside of rehab and when they get bored they go back to drugs."

The establishment of "illegal" drug rehabilitation centres in townships greatly affected by nyaope in many cases stems from there not being enough rehab centres in the area, or them being too full.

Terance Dzeli, president of Operation Thiba Nyaope in Ivory Park, Tembisa, said a rehab centre he helped start in the community was shut down by the provincial department of social development even though they were doing good in the community. "They shut us down and did not help us with what was needed for us to meet their requirements."

Oliphant said that all treatment facilities that operate without being registered in terms of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act 70 of 2008 are doing so illegally.

"The department always advises owners of unregistered treatment facilities to register and provides them with the guidance to do so."

Oliphant said there are 48 private treatment facilities in the country, almost seven times more than what government has.

In many cases the private facilities are too expensive for people to attend or for their families to help pay for, particularly families affected by nyaope addiction.

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