- After suffering years of abuse, Stewart Dzvimbu fled Zimbabwe in 2005 in search of a better life.
- Pent up with anger and rage, he eventually got caught up in the numbers gang.
- In 2014, he turned his life around - and now he runs a jiu-jitsu training academy in Cape Town.
It's been a long and winding road strewn with hardship, but, at the age of 37, Stewart Dzvimbu has finally found his purpose in life.
At the start of lockdown, Dzvimbu became the proud owner and instructor of the Submission Grappling Academy in Claremont, Cape Town, where he teaches jiu-jitsu.
Jiu-jitsu is part of the Japanese martial arts and is a system of techniques used in offensive or defensive close combat.
Dzvimbu's journey started back in 2005 when he fled Zimbabwe after years of abuse at the hands of his father.
"Most martial artists, they will tell you that it has always been difficult between themselves and their fathers, so that thing happened with me," he said.
"Each and every day, we were being beaten. He would just beat me with a brick, and blood would be flowing in my face - and then I would have to fend [for] myself."
Dzvimbu said his father served in the liberation war and he believes this was the reason for his abusive behaviour. He says:
Opportunity comes knocking
Dzvimbu was later offered the chance to move to South Africa with his uncle. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Together, they travelled to Johannesburg to buy clothes and household goods.
In Oudtshoorn, in the Western Cape, they would sell the goods on credit to the surrounding farmworkers. But it wasn't long before Dzvimbu found himself fighting on the streets and tangled up with the notorious numbers gang.
"To me, it was like this group of guys, these are the people who love me. That love which you lost from your childhood, now you find a group of people who just appreciate you, they recognise you," he said.
It wasn't until Dzvimbu found himself doing odd jobs for cash at his sister's church in Wynberg, Cape Town, that his life began to change.
"One of the pastor's sermons really hit home for me and I just realised that I am really in need of a saviour," he said.
Getting hooked on jiu-jitsu
Through the church, Dzvimbu was trained as a barista and was offered a job at the church's in-house cafe.
Through his work at the cafe, he met another church member, Jason Gregoriades, a jiu-jitsu instructor, who introduced him to the martial arts.
Dzvimbu told News24 he showed a natural affinity for the art. Soon, he was standing in for his instructor.
Last year, when Gregoriades moved up the west coast to open a martial arts academy for children, he handed the academy over to Dzvimbu, who is now the proud owner and instructor.
"The idea of teaching someone, who doesn't know anything, from scratch and to see them mastering this art... to me, it has just given me new hope.
"This is like my new home away from home, this academy is everything to me," he said.