Major-General Norman Sekhukune said there were 93 more kidnapping cases in July, 175 more in August and 177 more in September.
Cape Town – The number of kidnapping cases has increased by 445 between July and September compared to the same period last year, as 2 000 cases were recorded.
Briefing the police portfolio committee on Friday, Major-General Norman Sekhukune said there were 93 more kidnapping cases in July, 175 more in August and 177 more in September.
Sekhukune said the increases were recorded in Gauteng (325), KwaZulu-Natal (90), Mpumalanga (43), North West (14) and Limpopo (one), while the other provinces showed a combined decrease of 28.
Gauteng was leading, with a total of 729 kidnapping cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 407, the Western Cape 219, Mpumalanga 171, the Eastern Cape 130, North West 128, the Free State 74, Limpopo 64 and the Northern Cape 11.
Sekhukune said kidnappings were not only those cases where a ransom was demanded or there was extortion.
“It also happens in instances where a person is hijacked,” he said.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said besides kidnappings for ransoms, there were kidnappings for cars and for rape.
“We are trying to put together responses on those matters, which are a new category. Mostly, it will be for ransom and extortion, but we broaden it as it brings fear and pain to South Africans,” Cele said.
Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga said they had already identified the merging trend of kidnapping.
Ntshinga said she had instructed crime intelligence to embark on a counter-intelligence-led stabilisation plan. She said they were following it as a serious organised crime.
“We are capacitating serious organised crime units in the provinces. By April, we want them to work fully,” she said.
She said they want the provinces to establish task teams dealing with kidnappings and that national comes in support to crack difficult cases.
“All of these will be multi-disciplinary. We want to crack the cases from the beginning, when it is reported the multidisciplinary teams will be part of that,” Ntshingwa said.
Political Bureau
