Kidnapped women security officers found after search

WHEN three women security officers disappeared while on duty on Tuesday night, the community of Maokeng, Kroonstad in the Free State expected the worst, so they gathered to pray.

Their prayers were answered the following evening when the women who were bound, naked and disoriented were found by three residents.

Thabo Komane, Tlhoriso Mpanyane and Pheello Komane heard screams from Lovedale, a plot on the outskirts of Maokeng. They went to investigate, and found the women.

The women, whose names are known, were working for a security company servicing the Moqhaka Local Municipality and were posted at the Seeisoville Stadium.

Alarm bells went off when at about 5.30am on Wednesday when the morning team arrived to take over the shift from the women, who were nowhere to be found.

However, their cellphones and other belongings remained in the guard room untouched. Word quickly spread and the women were reported missing.

Community members, together with police, began a search which yielded no results and it was only around 9.30pm when Thabo Komane heard screams from a distance.

Thabo said he then alerted his wife, and together with his nephew Pheello Komane and their friend Tlhoriso Mpanyane, they went to investigate and that’s when they all heard a second woman screaming.

“The screams were coming from a dark area near a bush, it’s so dark we were not willing to go that direction but we wanted to find out what was going on.

“We found the women and they were all naked and their hands tied with their shoelaces. I asked my wife to get them blankets so they could cover themselves,” he said.

The men alerted a security guard in the area who then called the police. The women were taken to a nearby home of a police officer where they waited for medical assistance.

“I couldn’t ask too many questions, I was just relieved that they were okay, that they were safe and would get help.

“I am shocked this could happen so close to our community,” he said.

Pheello said they had not expected what they saw and that he hoped that police would be able to solve the case.

“They didn’t know where they came from, they couldn’t remember anything.

“I just wanted to help them and get them to the police. I want the people who did this to be arrested,” he said.

Adriaan Botha, the councillor in the area, said he was grateful that they had found the women alive.

Some community members questioned why the security company had let a team of women work night duty, and Botha explained that he had done his own investigation which revealed that the majority of employees at the security company were women.

“The employees of this security company were absorbed from a previous one which also rendered services to the municipality. When they were brought over most men did not qualify because of criminal records and some were not meeting the work demands, leaving the company with a shortage in male staff,” he said.