Deon Varcoe, 57, said the shooting of Tamia Fredericks, 25, who was gunned down in Wentworth last Sunday, triggered the trauma of his daughter Joshlyn becoming a shooting victim in 2021.
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A Wentworth father, whose teenage daughter was shot in the crossfire between two rival gangs, has spoken out about how poverty and a “fatherless society” was driving youngsters to gangs and violence after the killing of a young pregnant woman last week.
Deon Varcoe, 57, said the shooting of Tamia Fredericks, 25, who was gunned down in Wiest Road in Wentworth last Sunday, triggered the trauma of his daughter Joshlyn becoming a shooting victim in 2021.
Joshlyn was struck in her chest during a drive-by shooting on the day of the local government elections, in broad daylight as residents walked to and from voting stations in the neighbourhood.
Her attempted murder case has now gone cold, and Varcoe said they had lost faith in the police.
He said Fredericks murder happened as the community was still reeling from allegations of deep police corruption linked to gang wars in Wentworth and Bluff, as revealed in the Madlanga Commission in recent weeks.
This, he said, was as gunfire continued in the area daily, with no police action.
The commission heard evidence from Gregory Loftus, the father of tow truck boss and alleged gang leader Bevan Loftus, who claimed his son was killed in a R2.5 million paid hit by Hawks members in April 2023.
Bevan was linked to an ongoing tow truck and drug gang war in the south Durban area.
Police claimed he was linked to several killings, including that of Brandon "Puff" Kalicharan, an alleged Chatsworth gang leader, his wife Jeconiah and nine-year-old daughter Jecaida in a drive-by shooting in March 2023.
Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) KZN’s deputy director, Len John, told the commission that Hawks officer Deena Govender was allegedly linked to a R2.7 million financial trail following Bevan’s killing in Morningside.
However, Govender refuted the allegations that he was paid by Durban tow truck boss Clive Naicker to carry out the hit, and painted Bevan as the Hollywood Gang’s leader, who was a dangerous drug dealer responsible for the violence in Wentworth.
Govender testified that after Bevan was killed, violence in the Wentworth area “dropped to zero.”
Varcoe, a community leader and pastor in the Wentworth area, told POST that he was not surprised by the extent of police corruption that surfaced at the commission.
He claimed that police never followed up with him regarding information he reported the day after Joshlyn was shot.
He said Govender’s claims that violence stopped after Bevan’s killing was “a lie from the pits of hell” as shootings and violence had never ended but claimed scores of innocent lives.
Varcoe said his daughter was walking to her cousin’s house when two rival gangs travelling in different cars stopped across from each other at the corner of Burgers Road and Victor Lawler Street.
“CCTV footage showed the occupants of one vehicle opening fire from the back window, and the occupants of the other vehicle returning fire.
“One of the bullets struck my 18-year-old daughter, who was a first-year medical student, in her chest.
“When she fell to the ground, she called me from her cellphone. She said, ‘Daddy, I got shot'. A lady took her phone and said your daughter had been shot in her chest, and she told me where they were.
“I told the lady to give my daughter back the phone and thought my daughter only had a few minutes to live.
“I told her ‘Josh, keep calling out the name of Jesus. Daddy is coming.’ I told her to say it with me a few times and ended the call. I called Wentworth Hospital so medical staff would be ready to treat her when she arrived.
“Doctors told us that the bullet had missed Joshlyn’s vital organs. Her damaged lung had miraculously repaired itself so she did not require surgery.
“It was a miracle. A youngster who was shooting from one of the cars was also at the hospital. He was shot in his head and survived.
“A year after the incident, he was shot and killed on Tifflin Road.
“As the violence continues, we have to listen to lies at the Madlanga Commission from high-ranking police officers.”
He said there was no value for life in Wentworth.
“Youngsters in their 30s have wiped out the older generation of gangsters, and they have rewritten all the rules.
“Before, gang wars stayed between gangs. If a gang leader wanted to kill another gang leader, they would kill that one person.
“Nowadays, we see drive-by shootings where gangs open fire on crowds, spraying a whole area with gunfire, and killing three to five people at once.
“Innocent people are being killed with no police action. Children who are 13 and 14 years old are carrying automatic rifles and AK47s, and sitting on the corners of the street brandishing weapons.
“You will see a youngster broke with no money one day, and the next day he has access to weapons, cars, and money. It is crazy.”
Varcoe said youngsters were easily influenced into joining gangs and selling drugs because they come from broken families, and most of them have no fathers to discipline them.
“People are living in economic hardship with 15 people living in one flat.
“They hide drugs and guns for gangs and get paid, resulting in an income for that household.
“Young boys are joining gangs to make money and to prove themselves as men. Parents are protecting their children from being caught and know what their children are doing, but they look the other way because of the money they bring in the household. The corruption and lack of faith in the police exacerbates the social ills and gang violence,” Varcoe added.
He said the government needs to prioritise a plan of action before more lives are lost in Wentworth.
