*The story first appeared in the printed version of Vaalweekblad. Get our newspaper on Fridays for all the latest news.
VEREENIGING – A local businessman who was kidnapped from his shop in Vereeniging’s CBD in August was recently released by his captors.
According to a source, the owner of Mimosa Sweets, Irfaan Dadabhay, was released on Thursday evening, October 24.
“He suffered a broken leg after being shot and underwent an operation,” Dadabhay’s father, Dawood Dadabhay, confirmed to Vaalweekblad last week.
According to his father, the kidnappers dropped his son off at a place between Sharpeville and Randfontein.
Vaalweekblad reliably learned that the kidnappers insisted on a ransom of R5m.
The family confirmed that a ransom was paid, but did not confirm what amount was ultimately paid.
Dadabhay was abducted from his shop on the morning of August 29 shortly before 09:00 and spent almost two months in captivity.
The kidnapping made headlines on social media.
Footage of the incident showed how armed men rushed into his shop one by one and then carried him out by the arms and legs and into a vehicle.
Dadabhay was shot during the kidnapping.
The same vehicle in which the attacker bound Dadabhay and drove off with him – a maroon Hyundai SUV – was found later the same day near the Phumasbethane informal settlement, also known as Phuma’s in Sharpeville.
Kidnappings like this are apparently on the rise in South Africa. According to a report from Statistics South Africa in 2022/2023, there were more than 15 000 kidnappings in South Africa with the largest amount of them in Gauteng (7 000) and the second most in KwaZulu-Natal (3 000).
In 2022, Vaalweekblad also reported on Zaheer Asmal, the owner of Fred’s Hardware in De Deur, who was kidnapped in front of his store on the morning of February 24, 2022.
Asmal was later found unharmed at a house in Lenasia and his captors were arrested.
