Gunmen pumped 19 rounds into businessman Shailen Singh while he was in the driver’s seat of his car behind a popular Umhlanga restaurant at about 11.30am on Sunday, 29 December.
Four bullets found their target: two in the head, one in the neck and one in the abdomen. Singh (32), the owner of a transport company and husband and father to a two-month-old child, died at the scene, off Meridian Drive.
His father, Pradeep, said his son left the family home in Kindlewood estate that morning after asking his mother to make him something to eat.
He said he would return in 15 minutes, but a security company called the family later to say he had been murdered.
In the Durban Magistrates’ Court today, senior public prosecutor Nkululeko Msiya said both accused, Darren and Ferrel Govender, are charged with murder, and he asked the court for a seven-day remand to conduct an identity parade and interview witnesses.
Defence attorney Ravindra Maniklall said his clients handed themselves over to the police on 1 January, when police demanded the handover of vehicles belonging to Ferrel Govender’s security company, Pro Secure.
High-profile businessmen
Darren Govender. (Photo: Supplied)
The Govenders are high-profile businessmen in KwaZulu-Natal. In 2022, when the state’s anti-corruption Special Investigating Unit uncovered irregularities of R182-million in the supply of personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic, Pro Secure was among the beneficiaries of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
After the shooting on Sunday, it was reported on social media that two vehicles, a black BMW X5 and a black Ford Ranger, were seen leaving the crime scene.
Maniklall said his clients handed themselves over to police concerning the seizure of the vehicles and never knew what charges they were facing.
He also argued that the value of an identity parade would be diminished because reports relating to the incident and naming the brothers were widely circulated on social media before they were charged.
Maniklall called for an urgent bail application for his clients.
He said the brothers ran construction and security companies that employed more than 3,000 people, adding that “the publicity doesn’t augur well” for their businesses.
In court, Msiya argued that the identity parade would not be compromised.
The State still had to investigate multiple residences owned by the brothers.
Maniklall said police had already searched all the residences but for Ferrel’s house in Johannesburg, where there was a firearm.
He said police took his clients’ cellphones, but the brothers had not given up the PINs to unlock their phones. Magistrate Ashwin Singh said his job was not to determine the brothers’ innocence or guilt. He ordered the gun to be handed over to police within 12 hours and the cellphone PINs to be disclosed.
“Today’s magistrates’ order is important because they have to hand over a firearm and disclose the cellphone PIN codes, which I think is vital.”
Singh supporters in court
Supporters plastered their vehicles with posters calling for justice for Shailen Singh. (Photos: Supplied)
Supporters at court wore T-shirts and held placards calling for justice for Shailen Singh. (Photo: Supplied)
Shailen Singh. (Photo: Supplied)
Hundreds of Shailen Singh supporters thronged the court’s corridors, each trying to secure a place near the dock. They wore T-shirts bearing pictures of Singh.
Outside, others carried placards calling for justice for his murder. In the court corridors, beefy bodyguards from Pro Secure and other men in skinny jeans and tight T-shirts eyeballed Singh’s supporters.
Before the court appearance, two well-placed sources told Daily Maverick that Singh was at the centre of a love triangle involving a woman linked to the brothers.
Outside court, his supporters cursed the brothers and the woman.
“They were extorting Shailen,” one said.
Another said: “Shailen was a quiet ou. He didn’t do tender nonsense. These ous (Govenders) are from Chatsworth originally. A few years ago, nobody even knew them. Now they swan around like big heavy ous with guns because they got connections in the ANC.”
Singh’s father said his son had been threatened but did not disclose details. He said his son had had a romantic relationship with a friend of the Govenders who lived in Kindelwood, which ended years ago.
Shailen’s widow, Tamikka, said they had been married for a year. “Justice must be served for Shailen and my son.”
A source with knowledge of the case said Shailen’s connection to the Kindelwood woman incensed the brothers, who allegedly demanded to meet him on the day he was murdered.
The earliest chance for the men to apply for bail is 13 January, and they will be kept in custody at Durban Central Police Station until then.
Attorney Devin Moodley, who has a watching brief for Singh’s family, said: “When the accused appear for bail, the onus will be on them to prove exceptional circumstances justifying their release.” DM