Mafia: two beheadings and a funeral

It was a bloody urban war zone. Two suspected assassins slain on an ordinary suburban road in the middle of the day with spine-chilling brutality.

After being tried by a street mob and executed, their heads were hacked off with an axe and their bodies burnt beyond recognition. The slaughter took place in full view of anybody who happened to be in the area, including children.

When police arrived they were shot at and prevented from getting near the site of the crime until reinforcements arrived.

In television footage shot after the mayhem, ashes strewn across the road are the only visible evidence of a sequence of events sparked by the assassination of Teddy Mafia.

It's not unusual for a gang boss in SA to become the "Robin Hood" of his community by helping with food, school fees and other requests. But it is unusual for a gang boss to be shot dead in his own home, with no security around. And then for the two suspected assassins to be beaten, beheaded and set alight, followed by a gun battle with police.

Suspected drug boss and reputed multimillionaire Yaganathan Pillay, 63, better known in Shallcross, Chatsworth, south of Durban, as "Teddy Mafia", was shot as he sat in a chair in his Taurus Road home at about 2pm on Monday. Pillay's brother Ronnie told the Sunday Times in a phone interview it seemed as if his brother had tried to fight off his attackers.

"It looked like he tried to grab the barrel of the gun because he was shot in the hand and the other bullet was in his forehead."

The two "friends" who had come to visit were apprehended by community members, beaten in the street, beheaded and then set alight while local residents watched. When police arrived they were stoned and fired at.

The public order policing unit was called in to stabilise the situation and investigate.

A video of the beheadings has been widely shared on social media.

Pillay's daughter, Navechnie Chunder, was the first to see Pillay immediately after hearing shots in the house. She found him in a chair, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his forehead. He was rushed to Chatsmed Hospital, but did not survive. He was buried on Thursday in a faux diamond-studded coffin. The flashy funeral, said to have cost about R300,000, was closely monitored by police.

Community members in the area said Pillay had been revered by many in the community as a kind of modern-day Robin Hood.

A business owner in the area said: "I believe crime is crime, he did wrong and he would even say it himself. It's just that his method of doing wrong was different from other mafia guys, so maybe that's why people liked him. He had that old-school mentality about him; we got and received that respect from him."

Pillay, who was seldom seen without dark sunglasses, thick gold chains and a heavy gold ring, was never convicted of any offence.

"He had eyes and ears everywhere," said a businessman at the funeral. "If there's a car I don't trust or recognise I would call and tell the spotters on the road. So by the time you get there, how many phone calls already went to that man? That's why police hardly ever found anything. There are people wearing suits and ties, you see all these big houses? The owners of these houses are spies for that guy."

Despite these precautions, Pillay was arrested on April 30 last year when police raiding his home found unlicensed firearms, R700,000 in cash, and gold and silver coins valued at about R250,000. He was charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, freed on R5,000 bail in May and ordered to appear at the local police station twice a week. Controversy ensued when it was revealed that a police vehicle was part of his six-vehicle escort home from jail.

In January 2019, more than 20 police vehicles and a helicopter raided Pillay's home. A group of about 300 community members stoned police cars and managed to steal a police-issue R5 rifle. An officer was injured when he was hit on the head by a brick.

On March 12 last year, mother of two Claudene Rampersad, 32, was chatting with Pillay's son Devendren, 32, when they were killed outside Rampersad's home in Shallcross, in a drive-by shooting by occupants of a white Toyota Corolla with fake number plates. Following the incident a spate of hit man-like murders occurred in Shallcross and surrounding areas, leading to Pillay's arrest last year.

Police spokesperson Brig Jay Naicker, who called Pillay "a well-known drug dealer", said after this week's killings that three murder dockets and a case of public violence were being investigated by the organised crime unit.

"The [two] deceased in this matter have not been identified as the [Pillay] family say they do not know them personally. Members of the victim identification section are working to identify who they are and where they're from," Naicker said.

Following the killings, police minister Bheki Cele wanted to know why Pillay had never been prosecuted successfully.

"I still have a question that I raise with the police, that if this guy was known to be a gangster and a drug dealer why was he still out there? This is what the community and all of us are calling for: don't deal with these small fish, don't deal with the men on the street, deal with the real guys," Cele said.

Pillay's daughter, one of six children, appeared to have the answer: "Although he was accused a number of times, he wasn't proven guilty," she said. "People say he did this wrong, he did that wrong, but what about all the good things he did? What about your children getting food in their mouths, going to school? What about the churches, temples, mosques [he funded]? What about the police stations all eating off his money?"

She said he had sacrificed the opportunity to live a lavish life away from his impoverished community in favour of bettering the lives of those who still lived there.

During the funeral procession rose petals were strewn on the road. Mourners chanted "Viva Mafia, viva" as the controversial and flamboyant character was laid to rest.

Teddy Mafia is gone, but many questions remain unanswered.