As we reflect on 2022, it’s also been a year where the scourge of kidnappings re-emerged. Several high profile kidnappings occurred in the Western Cape this year.
In the first six months of 2022, an average of 1 143 kidnappings a month were reported to police, double the monthly average in 2021. Cases of this kind doubled nationally with 4000 cases reported to police between July and September.
In September, a Ukrainian woman, Anischa Penev was kidnapped in Blue Downs. The video of how she was kidnapped from her Audi R8 sports car went viral. A ransom was reportedly demanded and she was found in Khayelitsha more than a week later.
A month prior, saw the abduction of 6-year-old Pakistani boy, Shahnawaaz Asghar who was snatched from his Kensington home before school. In similar fashion – a ransom is believed to have been paid – and the boy was apparently picked up in Khayelitsha.
One of the most recent cases to date is that of little Abira Dehkta. The 8-year-old girl was snatched from her school lift club vehicle, in Gatesville. She, too, was found in Khayelitsha over a week later.
Khayelitsha appears to be the hub where the majority of kidnapping victims are found – a concern for police minister Bheki Cele.
He and other crime fighting role-players hope that there will soon be an end to the high number of kidnappings, with local police appealing to families not to pay the ransom, but to allow them to do their jobs.
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