Ivan Waldeck: from gang leader to guiding light

ONCE a feared gangster and convicted murderer, Ivan Waldeck has become one of South Africa's most powerful voices for change. His newly released autobiography, The Gates of Hell, tells the unflinching story of how a life shaped by poverty, violence and addiction was turned into a mission of hope, healing and transformation.

- TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

Born and raised in Tiervlei-Ravensmead, Waldeck was no stranger to hardship. Losing both his father and twin siblings at a young age, he grew up in a shack with a single mother trying to hold the family together. With poverty all around and violence on every corner, gangsterism seemed less like a choice and more like a means of survival. He joined young and rose quickly, driven by a desire for power and protection in a brutal environment.

His life is a story few would believe if it weren't told in his own words. Now, Waldeck is using his past not for pity or pride, but to pave a way out for those still trapped in the violent cycle he narrowly escaped.

Waldeck's criminal rise brought him face to face with some of the Western Cape's most feared figures - including Rashied Staggie, leader of the Hard Livings gang. But in an unexpected twist, years later, the two men would work together toward a different kind of legacy: helping others break free from the same destructive lifestyle they once embodied.