Don’t tell us not to get hysterical.
Last month, at least six cases of alleged kidnapping or near-abductions were reported.
There was Shireen Essop, 32, from Primrose Park who disappeared after she was hijacked;
Two-month-old Ka-Isha Meniers was snatched at a Shoprite in Bishop Lavis;
Sisters Kimberly, 21, and Vanessa Mubaiwa, 19, vanished in Muizenberg;
Mieshka Achmat, 25, escaped two men who bundled her into a white car in Parkwood and stabbed her;
And Milleston Sass, 25, and her female friend claimed they were almost abducted by their Bolt driver in Elsies River.
Reporting on all these cases, we at the Daily Voice looked at each other and asked: Is May National Kidnapping Month or something?
Questions
What the hell is going on?
We took our questions to the authorities.
Who is behind all these incidents? A syndicate or gang?
Yes, for the past few years there has been a spate of abductions of businessmen for ransom.
But these cases were different. Apart from Baby Ka-Isha – all the targets were young women.
Was this human trafficking?
Panic spread across the city. The news and social media were filled with reports of missing people.
There were search parties and frantic appeals for information... and prayers.
Families, especially the women, no longer felt safe to go out alone.
This while the disturbing murder trial of Tazne van Wyk, 8, is being heard in court. That case started out as a missing person report.
The fear turned into paranoia and hysteria, where whole communities mobilise and arm themselves to attack anyone accused of being a kidnapper.
At least two men were victims of vigilante attacks this week.
In Hanover Park, a man accused of being a child snatcher was beaten by a mob on Sunday.
It didn’t help that he was carrying a bag of biscuits and sweets.
Then on Tuesday, a Bolt driver was battered to death and his Toyota Avanza torched after he was accused of trying to snatch a child at a clinic.
Police later said there was no evidence of an attempted kidnapping.
Grassy Park police station commander Colonel Dawood Laing blamed the murder on mass hysteria caused by social media and the spreading of fake news.
Warned
He warned the public not to share unverified information on social media. Very important advice.
“If you look at the actual reported cases, you will see it’s not near as many as reported on social media,” he said.
This may be true, but it is also true that actual kidnappings are happening and people have every right to feel paranoid.
Communities don’t want to be told “don’t be hysterical”, they want to feel safe and protected.
Western Cape Missing Persons Unit chairperson Candice van der Rheede makes a good point when she says “our communities are outraged because they feel SAPS and the justice system is failing them so much that they are prone to take the law into their own hands. It is really scary”.
If the cops want to allay our fears, they must show us that they are on the beat.
We want to see kidnap suspects arrested, and our missing women returned safely.
Thank you.
taariq.halim@inl.co.za