Fears kidnappings on the rise again

Police have made inroads against the spate of abductions, cash-in-transit heists and extortion cases that sent ripples of fear through the Eastern Cape in 2024, by making a number of arrests.

However, after a two-month hiatus, two kidnappings were reported in the province in early December, putting the authorities on high alert for a re-emergence of such crimes during the festive season. 

In East London, the Hawks were called in after an engineer was abducted during a site inspection at a construction project in Wilsonia two weeks ago.

The man and his colleague were in the guard room when an armed suspect wearing a face mask entered and instructed them to lie down. The kidnappers fled with the engineer, later contacting the man’s family and demanding a ransom.

The victim was eventually returned home safely.

W/O Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said: “We had a breakthrough, [in] less than 48 hours, and managed to rescue the victim.”

Five suspects, aged between 32 and 50, were arrested and chose to abandon their bail application. The case was postponed to February 7 for further investigation.

An SUV, allegedly used during the kidnapping, was confiscated.

Just days before, two tourists from the Netherlands were hijacked, kidnapped and robbed in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Police spokesperson Capt Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the young couple had been travelling from Jeffreys Bay to Addo on the R335 when they were stopped by a vehicle carrying six men. She said the hijackers demanded the couple’s bank cards and drove around with them in a township.

“Their phones were taken, and they were forced to increase the limits on their bank cards. An undisclosed amount of money was drawn at different banks.”

After the robbers drove off, the complainants drove to a Kariega police station.

In an interview on the resurgence of kidnapping cases in recent weeks, Mhlakuvana said: “We are very concerned as the Hawks in the Eastern Cape ... but with the assistance and support we get from the public, we have a breakthrough in these cases.

“Recently in Gqeberha, we had a cash-in-transit heist that occurred in that area. We are thrilled and enthusiastic by the fact that we managed to apprehend all the suspects that were involved in that CIT, however, there are some suspects that we believe are on the run.”

Andre Snyman of eBlockwatch said kidnappings were expected to increase during the festive season. He said the case of Cape Town tourist Alize van der Merwe, who was abducted in September while travelling alone in the Eastern Cape, was a “game-changer”. 

Van der Merwe had planned to spend the weekend at a resort in Port St Johns with friends after landing at King Phalo Airport. However, she was abducted while driving to the resort. Her rental car was later discovered abandoned between Dumasi and Port St Johns.

A “disruptive” intelligence-driven operation by organised crime detectives led to the release of Van der Merwe, 39, and an unnamed 34-year-old Chinese woman near the Sulenkama police station in Qumbu. The pair were dropped off by suspects in a white Toyota bakkie who then fled. 

The breakthrough came a day after four kidnapping suspects — two of whom police said had been on their radar — were killed in a shoot-out with tactical response unit members in another operation in Tshoxa, Keiskammahoek.

Snyman said: “The Alize story really made a whole lot of difference. There was genuine concern from the public and we got to see action being taken by the cops. 

“You need to understand that these guys had made a living out of this. They saw a market where they started with foreign businesses selling counterfeit goods.

“Word on the ground is that it is Christmas time for these guys at the moment. In my opinion we could be seeing more of these. We have already had to deal with a similar case in Johannesburg where a R5m ransom was demanded. This shows that this will spread throughout the country. It is Christmas time for them.”

The Institute for Security Studies, in a report published on December 3, said: “Kidnapping in South Africa has risen by 264% over the last decade, primarily linked to armed robberies.” 

It quoted the annual police crime statistics, which showed kidnappings had increased from 4,692 in 2014/2015 to 17,061 in 2023/2024. 

“From July to September, the latest period for which there are official crime statistics, a daily average of 50 kidnappings were reported to police — up by nearly 8% compared to the same period in 2023.

“The risk of kidnapping varies across the country. Gauteng is the most affected province, recording more than half [51%] of all reported incidents, followed by KwaZulu-Natal [20%], Western Cape, and Mpumalanga with 6% each and the Eastern Cape with 5%.

“The remaining provinces contribute between 1% and 4% each,” it said.

The Eastern Cape police recorded 784 kidnappings in the 2022/2023 financial year and 848 cases in 2023/2024. 

Community safety and transport MEC Xolile Nqatha vowed to intensify efforts to fight violent crime in the province, saying his department would recruit 500 safety patrollers to back up police in hotspots in the 2024/2025 financial year.

Snyman said the re-emergence of crimes such as kidnapping was due to criminals being aware and monitoring media trends: “The situation dies down; everybody focuses on other things until no-one is aware of it. These criminals disappear until the light is off.”

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