Police Minister Bheki Cele said there was a surge in kidnappings in South Africa. File Picture: Phando Jikelo / Independent Newspapers
The South African Police Service (SAPS) reported a spike in kidnapping cases with almost 4,000 people kidnapped between July and September this year.
The police told Parliament on Friday that some of the kidnapping cases were for ransom.
In the report on crime statistics by Police Minister Bheki Cele, it was shown that most of the kidnapping cases were in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape.
Norman Sekhukhune, head of crime research and statistics in the SAPS, said there were 3,733 kidnapping cases between July and September across the country.
Out of the 3,733 cases, 136 were for ransom.
The report showed that ransom cases increased from 77 cases between July and September last year to 136 cases during the same period this year.
This was an increase of 59 cases.
However, the police said out of the 3,733 kidnappings, most were in Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and the Western Cape.
In Gauteng, there were 2,064 kidnappings in the second quarter of this year. In KwaZulu-Natal, there were 774 kidnapping cases reported during this period.
In the Eastern Cape, there were 234 cases; in the Western Cape, there were 182 kidnappings; in the Northern Cape, there were 169 kidnappings; and in the Free State, there were 130 cases reported.
The police recorded 100 kidnappings in Limpopo, there were 45 cases in Mpumalanga and there were 35 cases in the North West.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics