Victor Lefoka remembers nothing about the moments he almost drowned at St James tidal pool. What he does know is that a group of complete strangers refused to let him become another tragedy, giving him a second chance at life.
Western Cape, South Africa (29 June 2026) – The difference between heartbreak and hope can sometimes be measured in seconds. For Victor Lefoka, those seconds were filled with strangers who refused to look away. Their quick thinking and compassion transformed what could have been an unimaginable tragedy into a story that celebrates the very best of South Africa.
Victor, who hails from Polokwane, was swimming at St James tidal pool in Cape Town on the morning of the 9th of June when what began as an ordinary winter swim suddenly became a fight for survival.
Greta Wilson had been swimming nearby. The two were the only swimmers in the deep end at the time.
“When he was halfway along the tidal pool wall, I asked Victor the time,” Greta recalls.
“We were the only swimmers in the deep end. It was high tide and Victor appeared to be frolicking in the deep end but I then saw his arm go up and he said ‘Ma’am’, went and remained under, with bubbles visible at the surface.”
Greta knew instantly that something was wrong.
“I swam over to an unconscious Victor whose left arm was hanging limp at an odd angle, and I had the distinct impression Victor would sink to the bottom of the tidal pool unless I immediately grabbed him, which I did, concurrent to screaming ‘Heeeelp! Doctor! Drowning!'”
She pulled him towards the shoreline, where another part of the rescue was already beginning.
Victor was unconscious. Greta could see blood in the water around him. The situation was terrifying and deeply serious. But at the shoreline, the right people were somehow there.
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Former lifeguard and aqua aerobics instructor Chazz Jurd helped position Victor on his side. Among the regular St James tidal pool swimmers who stepped forward was Lulama, an ICU nursing sister from Constantiaberg. Two medical students were also there. Retired cardiologist Joe Tyrrell was pulled from his morning jog along the catwalk after his friend Gaeleen Tompkins, who had already called emergency services, spotted him passing by.
It was not one person who saved Victor. It was many.
Greta still struggles to explain how so many people came together at exactly the right time.
“It took a team,” she says. “This was rainbow nation stuff, and I firmly believe nothing was a coincidence but somehow divinely ordained.”
The weight of what had happened stayed with her, especially when she learned that Victor was his parents’ only child.
Cape Medical Response arrived and took over the emergency care. Victor was transported to Victoria Hospital in Wynberg as a Code Red patient and admitted to ICU. On the way to hospital, Greta received the call she had been praying for. There was good news. Victor had regained consciousness in the ambulance and had spoken “a little” to the ambulance personnel.
For Victor, everything between blacking out in the tidal pool and waking up in ICU is gone. He remembers nothing from the rescue. His memory only returned the following afternoon.
For Greta, seeing him awake was overwhelming.
“The most moving moment of my life,” she says, “was when I gently touched Victor’s leg in hospital ICU and he woke up and spoke to me. I cried.”
Victor was later cleared of any permanent lung damage or brain damage. After recuperating in hospital and then with family in Polokwane during the university holidays, he messaged Greta this past weekend to let her know he was arriving back in Cape Town.
His gratitude has been immense.
“I’m indeed very grateful to everyone who pulled a string, however big or small, to save my life. I don’t remember anything after blacking out. I can now breathe properly without the oxygen mask. It’s really great and wonderful how you were used as an instrument of nature to help a soul, and more importantly, how you are raising awareness about this.”
“I guess I have just not mastered swimming as much as I thought I did and all of you saved me from the misfortune.”
Victor is a Mechatronics student at UCT and already has a strong sense of leadership and purpose. From 2020 until 2022, he was one of four Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Children’s Parliament representatives for Limpopo.
He describes himself as “an enthusiastic, curious and self-motivated individual with keen interests in Business and Psychology. Innovative mind with a love for adventure, people and purpose-driven ideas. Outgoing, business-minded, and always ready for a good conversation that sparks growth. Play chess, code and read a lot.”
Now, that purpose carries even more meaning.
Cape Town’s tidal pools and beaches are loved by swimmers, families and visitors, but conditions can change quickly, and anyone can find themselves in trouble. Greta’s swim squad coach, Teru Adamson-Paarman, says more people are swimming along Cape Town’s False Bay coastline than before, while lifeguards are still mainly available during summer.
“St James, Kalk Bay, Miller’s Point, and Glencairn, not least, would benefit from year-round and certainly weekend lifeguards as is the case at Fish Hoek Beach, where Fish Hoek Lifesaving Club is based,” Teru says.
She adds that danger is not limited to deep water or rough seas.
“Aside from rip currents, not least at Glencairn and the infamous Danger Beach, adjacent to St James tidal pool, lots of drownings occur with children in shallow water, such as tidal pools. From a swimming teacher’s perspective, we say every child or adult is at risk. You only need to get a cramp to get in trouble.”
Greta is urging anyone who visits beaches, dams, lakes or rivers to save emergency services numbers on their phone, including the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) number and the numbers of nearby hospitals and ambulance services.
Following Victor’s near-drowning, a NSRI pink rescue buoy was installed at St James tidal pool that same morning.
The incident also highlights the importance of water safety education. Lifesaving South Africa, through its WaterSmart Schools programme in partnership with the Department of Education and DHL, has launched a free online WaterSmart learning hub to make water safety lessons more accessible to South Africans. The hub includes child-friendly videos, interactive activities, quizzes and downloadable resources for teachers and parents. Awareness can save lives long before an emergency begins.
For Victor, this story could have ended very differently. Instead, it became a story of strangers stepping forward… of a woman who swam towards danger, a nurse, medical students, a former lifeguard, a retired cardiologist, friends, paramedics, and beachgoers, each playing a part.
In times of tragedy, we must look for the helpers. They will always be there.
And because they were there on that day, Victor gets to return to Cape Town, continue his studies, call his parents, chase his dreams, have good conversations, play chess, read, code, laugh, live and build the kind of life that was so fiercely fought for on a winter morning beside the sea.
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