Brandon “Puff” Kalicharan, lived a fast and flashy life. He owned several high performance cars worth millions of rands, threw flashy parties and wore only the best clothes.
He was also a notorious underworld figure in Durban who ran the 11th Street Gang – named after the unit in Chatsworth he was from – and built his drug distribution empire by waging a bloody war on the streets of Chatsworth by taking out his rivals in drive-by shootings.
Observers say the key to his success was forging ties to street gangs across Durban, including the feared Cartel Gang in Wentworth. Always by his side was his wife Jeconiah Naidoo-Kalicharan who embraced the lifestyle and was known for her expensive taste in clothes and jewellery.
At 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon, as South Africa observed Human Rights Day, the lives of the Kalicharans, including that of their innocent nine-year-old daughter would come to an end.
On Peters Road in Springfield Park – an industrial zone in Durban – heavily armed gunmen pulled up alongside the family’s VW Amarok and sprayed it with bullets from both sides. More than 50 rounds of high calibre bullets penetrated the car. Brandon and Jechonia were struck multiple times and died on the scene. Their nine-year-old daughter was still alive by the time paramedics arrived and was rushed to hospital. She would later succumb to her injuries.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that Kalicharan was a “person of interest” and had been on the Hawks radar for some time.
“The motive of the killing is unknown as yet, although preliminary investigations suggest that the man, who was shot, was allegedly involved in drug and gang-related activities in Chatsworth and was a person of interest in some cases which are being investigated by the Hawks,” he said.
Who was Brandon “Puff” Kalicharan and how did he end up on the Hawks radar?
Through interviews with police sources and wading through several court documents, IOL has been able to piece together a profile on Kalicharan’s rags to riches story.
He grew up in Crossmoor, Chatsworth and attended Crossmead Primary and Crossmoor Secondary School. He lost his father, Sylvan at a young age and was raised by his single mother in Universal Place Road – considered a nicer part of Chatsworth because it had free-standing houses and was away from the tenement flats.
Kalicharan’s entry into the cut-throat world of gangs and drugs began in the early 2000s when he left his job in a clothing factory shop to go work for Kelvin “Kellys” Naidoo who owned Phat Funk Clothing shops in Chatsworth and Phoenix. According to police sources, these legitimate shops were mere fronts for a lucrative drug racket.
In 2008, Naidoo was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting by the Drey Boys Gang. Three members of the Drey Boys Gang were convicted of the murders and were sentenced to life in prison.
It was during this period that Kalicharan began running the Chatsworth underworld. He moved away from the clothing business and opened a tavern from where he plotted his expansion.
The Drey Boys, however, stood in his way which culminated in a bloody gang war in which several people were killed in drive-by shootings between 2008 and 2011.
While suspicions were high, police were unable to pin any of the murders on Kalicharan.
After consolidating his power in Chatsworth, Kalicharan, according to police sources, turned his business into a drug wholesale operation – rather than street pushing – where he would sell large quantities of drugs to street gangs across Durban. The popularity of the cheap heroin-based drug known as “sugars” brought in tens of thousands of rands every day.
Kalicharan’s social media “popped”. He would often stitch together videos of his flashy lifestyle – the cars, the money and the guns.
During a birthday celebration, he and his wife styled themselves as a modern day Bonny and Clyde in a video, complete with background music and slow motion effects of them pulling out their guns.
He openly posted videos and pictures with leaders of various gangs, including the notorious Cartel Gang from Wentworth.
In one picture, presumably at his birthday party, he celebrates it with a cake of American dollars while openly flaunting the prison gang code, “626”.
There are also pictures and videos of Kalicharan and Cartel Gang leader, Kyle “Parra” Pretorius together at parties. In one video in which Kalicharan stands near a DJ box dancing with his shirt open, Pretorius holds a stack of money, while telling the camera that they “don’t steal money, they make money”. In another video, Pretorius extols the 11th Street gang.
Pretorius was shot and killed in a gang-related hit on December 15, 2022.
As his empire grew and the bodies continued to pile up, the KwaZulu-Natal Anti-Gang Unit under the Organised Crime Unit began homing in on Kalicharan from around 2020.
Raids were conducted at his home on Train Road – where he owns three homes.
He was arrested on eight different charges: drugs, unlicensed firearms, attempted murder and murder. Police were unable to make any of these charges stick.
A police source said: “He had a lot of policemen in his pocket. It was an open secret that he was paying off several policemen at Chatsworth police station. He always managed to stay one step ahead”.
Police have launched an investigation into Kalicharan’s assassination.
His enemies were many, and there is a long list of suspects.
IOL