Article by Kotie Geldenhuys
Photos/images courtesy of Unsplash and Freepik
It is late at night in Pretoria. Rain lashes the streets, turning them into slick and shiny pathways. Inside a Mercedes-Benz motor vehicle, the wipers drum a steady rhythm to the soft strains of a late-night radio show. At a quiet intersection, the vehicle slows down to wait for the traffic light to turn green. The driver smiles at the woman beside him. Then, without warning, the quiet moment is shattered when a dark sedan pulls up, a masked figure leaning through the window, and in an instant, both the vehicle and its driver are taken away. The woman is left behind in the downpour, screaming, her world suddenly strange and terrifying. It reads like a scene from a thriller, yet in South Africa, moments like these have become all too common.
When most people think of kidnapping, they picture wealthy businesspeople held for multi-million-rand ransoms. In reality, the crime reaches far beyond high-profile families and politicians. Kidnapping has become a highly organised, adaptable and lucrative criminal enterprise that spans the country and different communities.
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[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: January 2026. This article is available for purchase.]