A 20-year-old Zimbabwean woman narrowly escaped a terrifying ordeal after being kidnapped on Friday, 27 September, while en route to the Verulam CBD.
The suspects, posing as police officers, held her for hours, demanding a R5000 ransom from her family and friends before abandoning her in a sugarcane field when no payment was made. The incident began when a friend of the victim was waiting for her arrival and received a ransom demand through her social media profile.
When he called her phone, an unknown man answered, confirming the kidnapping and insisting on immediate payment via e-wallet. The friend promptly reported the matter to the Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA).
Prem Balram, head of RUSA, said details of the victim were circulated and reaction officers began searching for the victim. The South African Police Services and other law enforcement partners were informed of the incident.
“RUSA then received information that the woman was dumped in a sugarcane plantation. After a lengthy search, the woman was located in Waterloo. She was transported to that location by a taxi driver who saw her exiting the cane fields,” said Balram.
When reaction officers interviewed the victim, she informed them that she was a resident of Harare in Zimbabwe and had found employment at a call centre in eThekwini when she arrived in South Africa. On Friday, she was walking to the Verulam CBD from Waterloo when she noticed a silver car with four occupants.
“The vehicle stopped and the men produced SAPS appointment certificates identifying themselves as policemen. While talking to her one of the men alighted the vehicle and a second male who they had stopped to search grabbed her. They forced her into the car and drove off,” said Balram.
According to the woman, they removed her mobile phone and questioned her at length regarding her family. The men then informed her that they needed money and began contacting her family and friends demanding a R5000 ransom. Balram said: “One of the suspects threatened to rape and kill her if the money was not sent to them. The victim’s mother, brother, sister, and friends were contacted telephonically for the ransom. While negotiating the ransom the men drove to Umdloti Beach, uMhlanga Rocks, and along the N2 freeway.”
She was eventually dumped in the sugarcane field and robbed of her mobile phone and bank cards when the family failed to pay the ransom after several hours. The woman was not injured in the ordeal.
Constable Bongiwe Ngcobo, communications officer at the Verulam SAPS, said: “I can confirm that a case of kidnapping and armed robbery was registered at the station. The matter is still under investigation and no arrest have been made as yet.”
