* In this series, we look back at unresolved murders in KZN. If you would like to share your story with us, email the Sunday Tribune on [email protected]
Durban - It has been 35 years since popular schoolteacher Devjeith Thakur, 46, was gunned down by an assassin - who was “tall, cold-blooded, razor-thin and dressed in a two-piece white cotton suit”.
It was on the evening of Easter Monday in 1983, as he was locking the family-owned tearoom, when the gunman stepped out behind him and, without warning, lifted the gun, took aim and pulled the trigger.
A bullet in the neck at the back of his head killed the much-loved husband, father and community role model - and the killer turned around, calmly walked across the road to the far side of an empty plot, got in a car and sped away.
There has not been an arrest, nor could the police in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, or anywhere else, come up with an explanation - except in 1987, when the Thakur family learnt from the police that the same gun had just been used in a killing in Johannesburg.
Police forensics.
It was at that time that a policeman told the family he could no longer keep quiet on why the investigation into Thakur’s death was “killed”. He promised the family he would return in a week and “give them the inside story”.
However, he was killed before he could make good on his promise.
At the time of his death, Hewawathie Thakur was left to fend for herself and six daughters: Shameen, then 17; Veena, 16; Neera, 15; Asherina, 14; Sunitha, 13; and Reshma, 9.
A generation later, Shameen is a qualified pharmacist and the leader of the Minority Front Party and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. Veena and Neera are teachers, Asherina is an advocate, Sunitha is a lawyer and Reshma is a pharmacist. But still their father’s death is yet to be solved and the police are still tight-lipped.
One woman and her daughters, who were failed by the justice system, stayed together, educated themselves and carved out lives for themselves. More than anything else, they want to know why their father was murdered - and why the perpetrator was not brought to justice.
The story was recalled by Shameen. She said she was at home making roti with her mother, when there was a knock on the door.
“We lived a few doors away from the shop which was owned by my father and our maternal uncles. In those days, my father, being a teacher and an employee of the state, could not own a business.
“While he provided the money to start the operation, as far as the paperwork was concerned my uncle, Kishore Gurulal, owned the business. When we got a frantic message we rushed to the shop and found my father on the ground in a pool of blood. His eyes fluttered and he seemed to be slipping away.
"The paramedics arrived and treated my father before transporting him to hospital. On that day, my uncle Kishore had gone to Durban to visit relatives. My uncle Ranjith was with my dad, and according to him my father was locking up with him standing just behind him. He said that the gunman, who was tall, very thin, in a white cotton suit, shot my father from the back. But when I got to the scene my father was on his back as he gasped for air.
“The description of what happened and the getaway by the gunman was told to us by Uncle Ranjith. He said that the gunman’s appearance gave the impression that he was someone from Johannesburg. In fact he looked like a gangster from that big city. There was much speculation about what could have happened. There was talk that family members or business people were implicated. Surely, the police must know something. We would like them to share with us the notes in their files,” she said.
* In this series, we look back at unresolved murders in KZN. If you would like to share your story with us, email the Sunday Tribune on [email protected]