SITTING in the lounge area of the home belonging to Dirk Fivaz, EXPRESS listen while family and friends try to piece together the puzzle of how their beloved friend, father and grandfather could be killed so senselessly.
The faint sound of a vacuum cleaner can be heard coming from the master bedroom upstairs. It filters downstairs into the lounge area where they are gathered in conversation.
Fivaz (79) was murdered on June 28 in his Pomona home on EP Malan Street. He was found lying on his bedroom floor with his throat slit.
It is Wednesday afternoon, just over 26 hours after the incident.
Nick De Gouveia, Fivaz’s close friend for over 50 years, describes how the pair had spoken over the phone four days before Fivaz’s death and made plans to see each other the next Monday, the day before he died.
“He was telling me he had just arrived at his farm in Vaalwater (Limpopo),” De Gouveia recounts, sitting on one of the lounge’s pale olive green suede couches, leaning on his left elbow.
But Monday came and the two couldn’t see each other. That Friday would be the last conversation he would ever share with his life-long pal.
“I called him on Tuesday morning at about 9am to check up on him, but his phone just rang. I called a second time around noon and still there was no answer.”
By the third attempt at about 1pm, the phone was off.
“I became worried and immediately drove to his house, where I found the police and his daughter Charmaine.”
That’s when the 79-year-old discovered his friend, whom he shared a birthday with, was dead.
“We were the same age and shared a birthday too. We would call each other every morning on December 6 to wish each other a happy birthday,” he says with a pensive smile, reminiscing about the many New Year’s Eves they spent together.
What is strange about this incident, is that as far as the family can tell, nothing was stolen and there were no signs of forced entry into the house.
Another strange circumstance about the day Fivaz was killed, is that the radio downstairs was playing loudly, something his family says would never happen.
“He just used to listen to the radio upstairs in his room, but even then the volume would be soft,” a close friend, Basil Smit, mentions, questioning this strange occurrence.
Fivaz, a retired building contractor, was living alone on his plot, after his wife of over 40 years died from cancer ten years ago. Both his daughters, Charmaine and Engela, are married and he has two young grandsons.
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Fivaz was born in Tweeling in the Free State and moved to Kempton in 1958. A year later he married his wife.
They first lived in a small house on Pomona Road before buying the plot on EP Malan Street, where they slowly built the home they’ve lived in since.
Coming from a humble background, his friends say he worked very hard throughout his life but his success never made him pompous.
Instead, he remained a generous and extremely charitable person who helped build a few churches in Kempton, including the Gereformeerde Kerk on Huggett Street and the NG Gemeente Bonaero Park on Malpensa Avenue.
“He was just a good, compassionate and giving person and we looked up to him so much as his daughters,” his youngest daughter, Charmaine, told EXPRESS over the phone.
Fivaz also enjoyed sport and played for Kempton Park Rugby Club.
The family would like to thank CMS Security, members of the police, especially Const Mandla Khumalo, as well as Pennie Erlank from the metro police, who has always been helpful to Fivaz and his family and is also helping with funeral arrangements.
They would also like to extend a special thank you to Fivaz’s close friends, De Gouveia, Smit and Carlos Da Sousa, for their support during this difficult time.
The funeral service will take place on Monday at 10am at the NG Church Bonaero Park. He will be cremated.
