Bevan Campbell, 26, was shot dead in Ibex Street, Helenvale, on Friday morning as he made his way home from saying goodbye to his grandmother, who died the day before
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When Bevan Campbell went to his grandmother’s home to pay his respects after she died on Thursday, he had no idea he would never make it home.
The 26-year-old was shot in cold blood in Ibex Street, Helenvale, on Friday morning.
He died at the scene.
He was chased by his killers before they opened fire, police spokesperson Captain André Beetge said, in a suburb in the northern areas of Gqeberha that has become one of the most dangerous places to live in the country.
"The SA Police Service can confirm that [he] passed away after he was allegedly chased and shot by unknown male suspect/s," Beetge said.
Campbell's maternal grandmother, Hendrina Potgieter, said she was at a loss for words and that nothing could describe her pain.
"His other grandmother, Mary, passed away on Thursday," a weeping Potgieter told IOL.
"He went there this [Friday] morning and on his way back this happened."
"This is the deepest hurt there is.
"He was the most beautiful boy. I am heartbroken."
Potgieter lost another grandson five years ago, months before his 21st birthday.
For decades, she has spoken up for people in the northern areas who often have no one else to speak for them.
Through Rina’s Community Project and its soup kitchens in Helenvale and Barcelona, she helps feed struggling families and takes their complaints to police when they are too scared to do so themselves.
Potgieter lives in the pocket of Helenvale known as Die Gaat, which has been one of the worst gang flashpoints in Nelson Mandela Bay for years.
She was among the community leaders who called for the army to be deployed in the northern areas, saying in February that residents were prisoners in their own homes and children could not play outside because of the constant threat of shootings.
Those calls were answered on April 3, when 290 soldiers arrived in Nelson Mandela Bay under Operation Prosper, a joint army and police operation that will run until March 31 2027.
Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Vuyisile Ncata said at a pre-deployment briefing in Schauderville that the operation would focus on gang violence in Gelvandale, Chatty, Kamesh and Algoa Park.
He said the streets had to be taken back from the gangs.
Nationally, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 2,200 soldiers across five provinces at an estimated cost of R823m.
But five months later, community activists and policing forums in the northern areas said the soldiers were rarely seen on their streets, while the killings continued unabated.
Statistics seen by IOL showed that 30 people were killed in the northern areas in August — the highest monthly death toll recorded this year.
Bethelsdorp recorded 13 of the deaths, followed by Gelvandale with 11, while Algoa Park and Missionvale recorded six each.
Police stations elsewhere in the Bay recorded another 145 deaths, taking the metro’s August death toll to 175.
In July, the northern areas recorded 23 deaths, while the rest of the Bay recorded 130.
August’s 30 deaths in the northern areas alone amounted to roughly one killing a day.
Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia was asked in Parliament last month whether the deployment had failed to curb the killings.
He answered no.
Cachalia said the SA National Defence Force, working with the men and women in blue in gang-affected parts of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape since April 1, was helping fight serious and violent crime.
"Operation Prosper has yielded positive results since its implementation," Cachalia said in a written reply to MKP MP Glen Taaibosch.
The only arrest figures he gave were for the Western Cape, where 672 people were arrested between April 1 and May 24 for murder, assault, illegal firearms, ammunition and drugs.
He gave no arrest figures for the Eastern Cape.
The R823m for the deployment reached the defence department only in August, five months after soldiers hit the streets.
IOL
