A former gang member and drug addict whose past included hijackings and locking motorists into the boots of their cars, now educates the youth and inmates to assist with healing and rehabilitation.
Evangelist Bradley Solomons, chair of the non profit organisation (NPO), Abakhululi Prison Ministry, says he was 15 years old when he first got involved with gangs.
“I was involved in gangsterism from a young age because I was looking for acceptance in all the wrong places and that is when all hell broke loose. When we moved to Hillview I was exposed to drive-way hijackings where people would be hijacked and placed in the boot and I tried to build myself up (in the gang) by selling drugs while I myself was a drug addict. I didn’t want to be the one to take instructions, I wanted to be the one who gave instructions. But you have to start where you are and work yourself up so I was a drug addict, involved in car thefts and I had parents who prayed for me.”
The father of four says during that period in his life he would do anything to get high.
“I would do anything to get high from heroin, to cocaine and ecstasy although I came from a home where I never saw my parents smoke or drink alcohol. We grew up in the house of God.”
Solomons added that he does not blame anyone for his flaws and misgivings. “The community wrote me off and said that I was a nobody, just a rubbish. I started to act the way people said I was. How I changed is the miraculous part.”
The decision to change came when he robbed a drug merchant. “One morning I robbed a merchant of his drugs and money. I told myself that because I had stolen the drugs the merchant would come looking for me, so I needed to prepare myself. I decided that I needed to fetch two guns and get ready.
“On 23 July 2009 as I was dressing myself and preparing to defend myself, I didn’t know I was dressing up for church. In that moment, I went back to church. The same day I committed my life to Christ I decided to stop using drugs. I never went back to any drugs.”
Two weeks later, Solomons says his then two-year-old son suffered from sunstroke and was admitted to hospital.
“That night my older brother who was very close to my son came to visit him in hospital. But it was too late to visit so he said that he was going home. That night my brother was stabbed multiple times and axed in the head.”
The murder angered him. “When two people were arrested for my brother’s murder they threatened his wife and said they would burn her house down if she testified. They attempted to set the house on fire but it did not burn down.”
Solomons says the men, who were gangsters, later walked free due to insufficient evidence.
“Not long after that they (the gangsters) started to fight among each other and they started to die out. It was my dad who encouraged me to serve God and leave them alone to let God deal with them. And also my wife who was my girlfriend at that time that was very supportive.”
He now visits youth centres and prisons across the country to share his experience and the gospel.
“My healing process started when I decided to forgive. From that moment my wife and I decided that we will work in the community, with youth programmes and feeding programmes because our community needs healing. I’m almost 12 years saved and drug free and since 2009.”
