A father-and-son duo are blazing a new trail across the continent—not in pursuit of adventure but in defiance of one of South Africa's darkest crises.
Troubled by the staggering rate of gender-based violence (GBV)—eight women, girls and children violated every day—Darin Samuels and his son, Devon, have taken to the open road, steering a rebuilt VW Caddy across Africa in a 10 000-kilometre rally that has become equal parts pilgrimage, protest and personal healing.
They set off from Hartbeespoort Dam on Saturday, 4 July, deliberately bypassing the Hollywoodbets Durban July, where they would ordinarily be networking with corporate fuel clients. Instead, they chose a different kind of visibility: a continental rally that forces attention onto a national emergency.
Now halfway through their gruelling route—and after a near-collision with a herd of elephants in Botswana—the Samuels are discovering that their journey is far more profound than a motoring challenge. For them, the Africa Rally, featuring 100 participants paired in 50 vehicles, has become a rolling memorial, a family reckoning and a call to action.
A family's stand against a national crisis: Their team name, Shades of Purple, is not a branding exercise. It is a tapestry of memory and tribute honouring the women who shaped their lives and the women whose lives have been stolen by violence.
Darin Samuels, 58, founding CEO of the Samuels Group—a Black Economic Empowerment fuel company—is travelling with his 32-year-old son, Devon, through Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. They are rallying in support of the TEARS Foundation, one of South Africa's leading organisations assisting survivors of sexual violence: "The criteria were simple," Darin says. "Choose a non-profit fighting for something bigger than all of us. We chose the TEARS Foundation."
The emotional anchor of the journey lies in the family's own history. Melissa Diedricks (née Samuels), Darin's daughter and the company's marketing manager, is monitoring the expedition from Cornubia, Durban. Her two-year-old son, Benjamin, is the youngest inspiration behind the rally—the great-grandson of 82-year-old matriarch Yvonne Samuels: "This journey is for the women who shaped us," Darin says. "My partner Maria, my mother Yvonne, my late wife Rachelle and little Benjamin, so he grows up in a country where women and children are safe."
A vehicle rebuilt from the ashes: The rally vehicle itself carries a story of devastation and defiance. During the July 2021 unrest sparked by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma, the Samuels Group suffered an estimated R40-million in damages when its Cornubia headquarters was looted and torched. One of the vehicles, a VW Caddy, was smashed, burnt and written off: "The Caddy was looted, burnt and completely destroyed," Devon says. "But we refused to let it end there. We spent months rebuilding it. It's a symbol of resilience. Like South Africa, it has been through the fire, but it's still moving forward."
The Shades of Purple Caddy carries symbolic heavy cargo: a single calabash and four unlit candles. At the end of the route in Zanzibar, the candles will be lit for survivors of violence and the calabash will be emptied into the Indian Ocean—a gesture of remembrance, a release of pain and a call for healing.
A continent's storyline and a family's healing: The Africa Rally route reads like an epic: Victoria Falls, the Ngorongoro Crater, Kilimanjaro Base Camp, the Serengeti, Lake Malawi and Zanzibar.
Fifty teams are navigating thousands of kilometres of dust, danger and discovery.
But none carry a story as personal as the Samuels family—a father and son reclaiming their bond while placing South Africa's most urgent social crisis at the centre of a continental spotlight.
In an interview, Darin reflects on the deeper meaning of the expedition: "It's a journey of healing and hope. A journey for my partner, my mother, my late wife, my grandson. And a journey for every woman who has suffered in silence."
Why GBV? His answer is stark: "Because it is the wound of our continent. If men don't stand up, nothing will change."
He hopes South Africans will take away a simple message: "Fatherhood matters. Fathers must teach their sons to respect and treasure women, girls and children. Men must become accountable. Healing is possible. And we must fight for the safety of women and children—not in speeches but in action."
A tribute to a matriarch: The rally will also honour Yvonne Samuels, who raised Darin as a single mother in Newlands East under the weight of township gangsterism, drugs, alcohol, poverty and violence. One of the four candles will be lit in her name.
Moments of wonder amid the mission: Between the advocacy and the exhaustion, the duo will steal moments of awe: pausing at the white waters of Victoria Falls, drifting in a hot-air balloon over the Serengeti, ferrying across Lake Malawi, climbing towards Kilimanjaro's base camp and walking the white sands and stone cobbled streets of Zanzibar. Each stop will be a reminder of Africa's majesty and its deep, ancient pulse.
A journey measured not in kilometres but in impact: At the end of the 10 000-kilometre odyssey, the father and son will return home bound in ways only Africa can script.
Their victory will not be measured in distance travelled but in the renewed national attention on gender-based violence and in the promise they carry. That the fight for women and children will not be abandoned. Not on this journey. Not ever.
South Africa continues to record some of the highest GBV statistics in the world—eight victims every day. The Samuels family hopes their rally will help shift the national needle and conscience, one kilometre at a time: "GBV incidence in South Africa cannot be attributed to any single organisation. It is a systemic crisis rooted in social, economic and cultural conditions—one that demands collective accountability from government, communities and men themselves."
This reinforces the Samuels pair's message: "men must stand up, because GBV is not caused by institutions—it is caused by individuals acting within broken systems."