Cape Town - Cape Town Mayor called on SAPS to establish a multi-disciplinary operational task team focused on tackling kidnapping and extortion in Cape Town ahead of Police Minister Bheki Cele’s media briefing.
In a statement, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the alarming rise in the number of kidnapping cases in Cape Town and across South Africa required urgent action from SAPS’ top management.
He said: “Earlier this year, we saw a report that stated that in 2017, out of 65 countries where statistics are available, South Africa ranked as the third-highest country with incidents of kidnappings. We had a rate of 9,6 kidnappings per 100 000 people, and in 2021/22, that figure jumped to 11 per 100 000 people."
“I note that the National Police Ministry and SAPS' top management are holding a media briefing about their investigations into kidnapping and extortion today.”
Hill-Lewis said while he notes that everyone is eager to hear about any progress on existing cases from Cele, he wanted to emphasise the need for immediate action from SAPS to tackle rampant incidents of kidnappings and extortion moving forward.
We cannot allow a small handful of criminal syndicates to get away with these crimes in our city. To effectively eradicate kidnapping and extortion in the city, we urgently need fully-fledged extortion and kidnapping task team, which should include Saps, the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town,” Hill-Lewis said.
Over the last few months, several prominent businessmen based in Cape Town have been kidnapped and ransomed for large amounts of money by an unidentified syndicate.
In some cases, family members, including young children of wealthy families, have been taken and held hostage as the syndicate extort money from their families in exchange for their lives.
Less than two months ago, Cape Town residents were left reeling after Shireen Essop, the daughter of the owner of furniture company Decofurn, 6-year-old Shanawaaz Asghar and most recently Mitchell’s Plain businessman Akter Pradhan were kidnapped, and their families extorted.
Speaking to the Cape Argus, police said the provincial Kidnapping Desk attached to the Organised Crime Unit was investigating several open cases of kidnappings.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the desk was established earlier this year following concerning instances of kidnappings in the province.
This, however, is in the shadow of the establishment of a National Anti-Kidnapping Task Team attached to SAPS’ Crime Intelligence Unit established on November 18, 2021, following a spike in kidnapping cases across the country where ransom demands were being made.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said: “Since its inception, the team has been hard at work, tracking and tracing wanted suspects and syndicates. SAPS Management is confident that the Task Team is closing in on several syndicates responsible for Kidnapping for ransom cases.”
Earlier today, the Police Ministry and the top management of SAPS held a media briefing to provide progress of investigations into kidnappings, extortion and transport-related cases in the province.