SA’s growing kidnapping scourge – Anyone could be next

The abduction of Nkangala municipal manager Maggie Skhosana and her driver in Mpumalanga has brought into sharp focus the growing scourge of kidnappings in South Africa.

Crime statistics show that there were 3 306 kidnappings between January and March this year, representing an increase of 109.2% or 1 580 cases compared to the same time last year.

Figures for 2010/11 to 2019/20 show a 133% increase in reported kidnappings (from 2 839 to 6 623).

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Mpumalanga is among the provinces that recorded massive increases in kidnappings, with 304 kidnappings this year – an increase of 137.5% from 128 reports last year.

According to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the risk of being targeted is linked to the kidnapper’s motive, with most attacks (three in four) in 2019/20, committed during other crimes such as armed robberies and sexual assaults.

Search for Skhosana continues

The wheelchair-bound municipal manager and her driver Gugu Mtsweni were abducted outside the municipal offices in Middleburg on Thursday, with their car and Skhosana’s wheelchair and bag found at a local mine entrance.

The women were abducted in full view of security guards who did not act, as they thought the perpetrators were police officers due to the white Ford Fiesta they used being equipped with flashing blue lights.

On Tuesday morning Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said there were still no developments in the missing women’s case.

He could not confirm reports that the kidnappers had demanded a R5-million ransom for the duo’s safe return or that they were investigating the involvement of a notorious gang called Boko Haram.

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“The investigation officer in this case indicated that it was never brought to his attention,” Mdhluli said.

The gang has reportedly carried out a number of similar kidnappings, tender fraud, CIT heists, white-collar Boko Haram, extortion, intimidation and armed robberies.

Anyone is a target

Martin Ewi, ISS’s Transnational Organised Crime Regional Observatory Coordinator for Southern Africa, said kidnappings have no boundaries and anyone could become a target.

“Kidnappers do not care whether you are a government employee or what. Whenever there are opportunities, they will take it and that is an unfortunate situation we are dealing with now. Kidnappings for ransom have been increasing if you look at the ten year statistics,” he said.

Ewi said like terrorism and organised crime, kidnapping for ransom is one of the most dangerous forms of crime due to the accompanying violence and that though it is less frequent, a single incident causes a public stir.

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He said such crimes needed particular and specific focus as well as analysis and extensive response to be able to combat them

Ewi said previous arrests have shown that both foreigners and locals were involved in kidnappings, saying it is this foreign element that requires extensive resources.

“This means you will need lots of resources, especially with the foreign dimension; the response has to follow the same trend,” he added.

Symptoms of underlying ills

University of Free State anthropologist Professor Theodore Petrus agreed that kidnappings are becoming a growing problem and that they are carried out for various reasons, mainly for financial gain or revenge.

He said, therefore, it can be argued that the rise in kidnappings is motivated by financial gain and that this could be linked to the increasingly dire economic situation.

Petrus said the Covid pandemic has worsened the already dire economic situation, which is further exacerbated by the current energy crisis and rising unemployment, leaving some with no option but to turn to crime to survive.

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“Things are seemingly not improving and very few people are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And given the fact that, in our context, where we have criminality that has woven its way into the fabric of society, we would find that criminality, kidnapping as one of the examples, is the option that they are looking at,” he said.

Petrus said there were also issues with leadership and the SA Police Service not being up to task, saying all these created a fertile breeding ground for criminality to flourish.

He added that dealing with any form of criminality boiled down to tackling contextual issues of the economy, unemployment, corruption, lack of leadership and inefficient policing.