When Bevan Campbell went to his grandmother’s home to pay his respects after she died, he had no idea he would never make it back.
The 26-year-old was chased and shot in Ibex Street, Helenvale, on Friday morning. He died at the scene.
Campbell had been returning from saying goodbye to his grandmother, Mary, who died the previous day.
His maternal grandmother, Hendrina Potgieter, said the family was struggling to comprehend the loss of another young life.
“His other grandmother, Mary, passed away on Thursday,” a weeping Potgieter said.
“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.”
Police spokesperson Captain André Beetge said Campbell was allegedly chased before unknown male suspects opened fire.
“The SA Police Service can confirm that [he] passed away after he was allegedly chased and shot by unknown male suspect/s,” Beetge said.
No arrests had been reported in connection with the shooting.
Campbell’s death has once again placed the violence in Helenvale and the wider northern areas of Gqeberha under scrutiny, five months after soldiers were deployed to support police in communities affected by gang violence.
The killing also carries a painful personal history for Potgieter, who lost another grandson five years ago, months before his 21st birthday.
For decades, she has spoken up for residents in the northern areas who often have no one else to represent them.
Through Rina’s Community Project and its soup kitchens in Helenvale and Barcelona, Potgieter helps feed struggling families and takes complaints to police when residents are too afraid to do so themselves.
She lives in Die Gaat, a pocket of Helenvale that has been one of the worst gang flashpoints in Nelson Mandela Bay for years.
It was from that experience that she and other community leaders called for the army to be deployed in the northern areas.
In February, residents described themselves as prisoners in their own homes. Children could not play outside because families feared the next shooting.
Those calls were answered on 3 April, when 290 soldiers arrived in Nelson Mandela Bay under Operation Prosper, a joint army and police operation due to run until 31 March 2027.
The deployment was intended to provide additional support in communities where gang violence, illegal firearms and serious violent crime have become part of daily life.
‘The Streets Had To Be Taken Back’
At a pre-deployment briefing in Schauderville, Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Vuyisile Ncata said the operation would focus on gang violence in Gelvandale, Chatty, Kamesh and Algoa Park.
He said the streets had to be taken back from gangs.
Nationally, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 2,200 soldiers across five provinces at an estimated cost of R823 million.
But Campbell’s killing has come as community activists and policing forums question whether the military presence is reaching the streets where residents remain exposed to violence.
Five months after the deployment began, activists said soldiers were rarely seen in the northern areas, while killings continued.
Their concerns are not based on a single incident.
Statistics showed that 30 people were killed in the northern areas in August, the highest monthly death toll recorded there this year.
Bethelsdorp recorded 13 of those deaths, followed by Gelvandale with 11. Algoa Park and Missionvale recorded six between them.
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.
The August figure in the northern areas amounted to roughly one killing a day.
For Potgieter, the figures are not abstract. They are reflected in the grief of families, the fear of residents and the growing number of funerals in communities already battling poverty and gang control.
Campbell’s death has now added another name to that list.
Minister Says Operation Is Working
Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia was asked in Parliament whether Operation Prosper had failed to curb the killings.
He answered no.
Cachalia said the South African National Defence Force, working with police in gang-affected areas of the Western and Eastern Cape since 1 April, was helping to 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.
However, the only arrest figures provided were for the Western Cape.
Between 1 April and 24 May, 672 people were arrested in that province for crimes including murder, assault, the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and drug-related offences.
No arrest figures for the Eastern Cape were provided.
That omission has made it difficult for residents and the public to measure the operation’s impact in Gqeberha.
The government has confirmed how many soldiers were deployed and how much the operation is expected to cost. But the public has not been given a comparable account of the arrests, firearms recovered, gang networks disrupted or convictions secured in the Eastern Cape.
Campbell’s killing has therefore raised a direct question about what the deployment has changed in Helenvale.
The purpose of Operation Prosper was not simply to place soldiers in crime-affected provinces. It was to support police operations and make communities safer.
In Helenvale, residents say they are still waiting to feel that change.
Funding Arrived Months Later
The operation has also been affected by a dispute over the release of the money needed to fund it.
The R823 million for the deployment reached the defence department only in August, five months after soldiers had been sent into the streets.
Treasury later said the full amount was released on 6 August. It said the Finance Minister approved the release under Section 6(1)(c) of the Appropriation Act after the Act was assented to on 16 July.
The delay meant soldiers were deployed before the defence department had received the full funding allocation.
For residents such as Potgieter, the difference between the announcement of funding, the approval of money and its eventual arrival is less important than what happens on the ground.
They want to know whether patrols are taking place, whether police are receiving the support promised to them and whether people can walk home without being chased and shot.
The Human Cost Of The Violence
Potgieter’s community work has placed her close to the effects of gang violence for years.
She feeds families through soup kitchens and assists residents who fear approaching police. She has also been one of the voices calling for stronger intervention in the northern areas.
But the death of Campbell has brought the violence into her own family once again.
She was already mourning Mary when she learnt that Campbell had been killed on his way home.
Her grief is shared by a community that has watched young people lose their lives in shootings and families struggle to secure justice.
The police investigation into Campbell’s death is continuing. Investigators will have to establish who chased him, who opened fire and why he was targeted.
Those questions remain unanswered, and no arrests had been announced at the time of publication.
The killing has also renewed scrutiny of the government’s response to gang violence in Gqeberha.
Operation Prosper is scheduled to continue until March 2027, but communities are already judging it against the daily reality of their streets.
The government says the operation has produced positive results. Residents point to the August death toll and say soldiers are rarely seen where they are needed.
In Helenvale, the death of Bevan Campbell has made the disagreement painfully personal.
He had gone to mourn one grandmother and was killed before he could return home.
For his family, the operation’s promises offer little comfort unless they are matched by visible protection, arrests and justice.
For the wider community, the question is now whether Operation Prosper can change the conditions that allowed another young man to be chased and shot in the streets it was meant to reclaim.
