‘My 15-day hostage horror’

A CAPE Town businessman is still reeling with shock after his kidnapping ordeal.

The 41-year-old sits afraid, shaken, holding his legs to his chest in a cradle position, as he relieves the harrowing ordeal in an exclusive interview with Weekend Argus.

The man, whose identity is being protected, still bares fresh wounds.

The nightmare began last month when he was forced into a car by unknown men, one of whom was dressed as a traffic officer, along Wespoort Drive, in Mitchells Plain.

He was freed 15 days later after being kept in a zinc shack in an informal settlement, which leaked when it rained and was unbearably hot when the sun was out.

“They beat me so much, I didn’t even have time to think straight. I said if they wanted to kill me, they must do so – I was tired of all the beating.”

The man said the reason he survived was because he convinced his kidnappers that he was not a business owner, but rather a manager.

“I told them that the owner was in Bangladesh. They were angry as I kept saying I was the manager,” he said.

The man said his instincts kicked in from the moment he was taken.

While driving home from work, he came across a roadblock and was approached by a man dressed in a traffic official’s uniform.

“I knew something was wrong when he said the licence disc of my vehicle was expired, but he did nothing,” the survivor said.

“Then I saw my car was surrounded, I made sure they did not see that I put the location on my phone to try and alert someone.

“I decided to make a commotion so that someone can notice me.”

He said he left a leather shoe he was wearing behind at the scene, hoping it would alert someone to his plight.

“I thought that if the police brought a dog to the scene, the animal might pick up my scent,” the survivor said.

He was forced to the floor of the car, his head covered with a cap and driven to the location where he was kept for slightly more than two weeks.

His feet and hands were bound so tightly they still bear the scars.

A video of the kidnapping went viral on social media and shows a man in traffic uniform forcing his victim in a vehicle while other people screamed.

The victim said he was in the dark during his ordeal because his kidnappers refused to remove his blindfold.

“It was so cold inside the shack. I was kept blind-folded and one of my eyes became infected.”

“I was only allowed to pee inside a bottle and if I took too long, they would beat me.

“They beat me with a sjambok, a stick, heavy boots and a gun.”

When asked how he survived nutritionally, he said that he had kept himself hydrated, accepting water but not the sour milk they wanted to feed him.

“I had to sleep handcuffed between their beds,” he said.

“They never left me alone and would leave the shack when their ‘big boss’ arrived. ”

The kidnappers made several videos which were leaked to social media, in which they made ransom demands.

Then last Friday he was bundled inside a car and left along Swartklip Road, near Khayelitsha cemetery.

“I rolled along the ground and made it to my feet and walked to a tuck shop in Lost City, in Tafelsig, and asked them to call my family,” the surivior said.

The man also denied claims that the motive behind kidnappings were for insurance claims.

“To say it is for insurance is very sick, this is our lives. Why would anyone do that?’’ he said.

On Thursday, Police Minister Bheki Cele, Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith, National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola, the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), crime fighter Hanif Loonat and Ismail Rajah’s son, Raziek Rajah, briefed the media on the ongoing kidnappings.

Rajah, of GoodHope Construction in Parow was kidnapped in March 2022 and freed in June.

Two Mozambican nationals and two South Africans have since been charged and are appearing in court.

A week ago, Khalid Parker, 40, the son of Primrose Cafe owner Seraaj Parker, was shot in the head while crossing Imam Haron Road in Lansdowne. Police have yet to make an arrest. Cele said they had successes with extortion and kidnapping cases, but that much more work had to be done.

The MJC’s deputy president, Sheikh Riad Fataar, asked why politicians were silent on the kidnappings, and he said that they were “gatvol.”

Loonat said a man believed to be involved in Parker’s shooting was released soon after being arrested.

Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said there had been arrests made in Parker’s case, but didn’t say anything further.

BRENDAN MAGAAR (ANA) African News Agency A 41-YEAR-OLD man tells of his ordeal after he was kidnapped and beaten for 15 days. |