*Updated on October 29, 2021 at 20:15 PM.  

The South African Police Service issued a statement following the publication of an article indicating that arrests have been made in the Moti kidnapping case.

National police spokesman Brig Vish Naidoo stated that the police rejects the report. He reminded South Africans to approach matters which are likely to place the lives of people at risk with utmost sensitivity.

The article that sparked Naidoo’s response was published by the Benoni City Times and indicated that a man and woman had been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Polokwane-based Zidan, Zayyad, Alaan and Zita Moti.

A copy of the article appears below.  

* Note that, after publication of the below report, Benoni SAPS station commander Brig Thabo Mphuthi denied making certain statements. The statements she denied making are listed at the bottom of the report.

At approximately 14:45, Benoni City Times reported:

Benoni SAPS station commander Brig Thabo Mphuthi has just confirmed to Benoni City Times journalists on site at Benoni Police Station that two Benoni residents, a man a woman, are being detained at the station in connection with the kidnapping of the four Moti children.

According to police, a task team from Limpopo searched residences at a complex in Harpur Avenue yesterday afternoon and the two were subsequently arrested and brought to the holding cells at Benoni Police Station.

According to a family member of the woman, who was at the premises when the task team arrived at about 14:30, the woman was arrested at her workplace in Northmead shortly after 15:00.

He said the task team had received a tip-off from a cellphone number, which led them to the premises in Harpur Avenue.

The man lives on the same property as the woman, police said.

Mphuthi said the two will be transferred to Limpopo SAPS, but could not confirm when.

The police did not divulge any further information.

The boys – Zidan, Zayyad, Alaan, and Zia Moti – aged between six and 15, were kidnapped on their way to school in Polokwane at about 07:00 on October 20. Seven men with R5 rifles and handguns cornered their vehicle and forcefully removed them.

This is a developing story.    

• Specifically, Mphuthi denied saying that residences at a complex in Harpur Avenue were searched by a task team from Limpopo yesterday afternoon and that the two were subsequently arrested and brought to the holding cells at Benoni Police Station. She said she commented only to confirm the two were indeed in the holding cells on a Limpopo case and they would be transferred to Limpopo, but she did not know when.

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