The kidnappers pounced at around 6am on Friday, 19 July 2024, as Kelvin Naidoo (51), the manufacturing and technical director for battery manufacturer Auto X, was driving up to the company’s factory in Korsten, Gqeberha, in his black Mercedes-Benz.
Naidoo is also the deputy president of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said a Nissan NP200 bakkie bumped into Naidoo’s vehicle as he approached the factory on Lindsay Road, Korsten, forcing him to stop. Another bakkie stopped behind him, and five suspects wearing balaclavas got out of the vehicle.
They removed him from his vehicle and forced him into the bakkie and drove off. The suspects left the Nissan NP200 and Naidoo’s vehicle at the scene.
The police later discovered that the bakkie had been reported as hijacked in Motherwell in June.
A demand for ransom in return for Naidoo’s release was made a few hours later.
The investigation was taken over by the Hawks soon after, but Naidoo remains missing.
Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana from the Hawks said on Sunday that they were working “very hard” to rescue Naidoo unharmed.
“The Hawks can confirm that the ransom money was demanded by the suspects,” he said.
While there had been several high-profile kidnappings in Nelson Mandela Bay of late, Mhlakuvana said at this stage they could not associate Naidoo’s kidnapping with other incidents.
“We treat each case according to its merits,” Mhlakuvana said.
He said they were urging anybody with information to share it with the investigation team, promising that it would be treated confidentially.
“Kidnappings in Gqeberha [have] been quiet for a few months but it looks like cases are on the increase again,” Mhlakuvana said. He said they “cannot confirm nor deny that there is a new syndicate in the area”.
Pattern of kidnappings
Naidoo’s kidnapping comes days ahead of an expected ruling in the bail application of the main suspect in two kidnappings earlier this year where victims were released after ransom was paid.
In June, the local magistrates’ court heard evidence that Nyamezeli Tete (59) was suspected to be at the centre of a spate of kidnappings in the metro.
Tete was arrested near Fort Beaufort (now known as KwaMaqoma) on 9 June.
He was out on parole after a conviction in 1996 for robbery and murder. He was charged with the March kidnapping of Sonam Gajjar, the wife of a prominent Kariega businessman. Gajjar was released after her family paid R2-million in ransom.
While arrests were pending in her case, Rodney “Running” Chen, was kidnapped from his windscreen repair shop in North End, Gqeberha and released only six days later.
Tete’s co-accused Mzonoxolo Grwayibana (38) has been released on bail of R3,000.
On 4 July, Dr Bongani Nqini (55) was rescued by the Hawks and the South African Police’s tactical response team after he was abducted from his surgery in Kwazakhele and held for ransom for four days.
Nqini was rescued unharmed and the vehicle suspected to be involved in the abduction was intercepted in Sidwell, Gqeberha. The driver was arrested, but later released due to a lack of evidence.
Read more: Community policing forums plead for Minister Mchunu to counter rampant crime
Calls for intervention
CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said they were devastated by Naidoo’s kidnapping.
On 16 July, the Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa to ask for urgent intervention in the metro to deal with “alarming and escalating levels of crime”.
“This metro used to be one of the safer metros in the country, but due to the systematic breakdown of law and order enforcement, this has become an exceptionally dangerous place for its citizens and communities. The alarming crime statistics, which include high levels of brutal shootings, robberies, hijackings, kidnappings, cybercrimes and vandalism of public and private infrastructure cannot proceed unabated.
“These crimes have severe consequences upon the safety and security of people, especially vulnerable communities and have serious economic ramifications in terms of the retention of much-needed investment and employment in our metro, which is in a province which now has more people unemployed than employed,” the coalition’s Mongameli Peter wrote.
Peter said the coalition was imploring Ramaphosa to declare a state of disaster in Nelson Mandela Bay because of the rampant and out-of-control crime in the metro and also for the establishment of a dedicated safety and security task force.
“This should be resourced with skilled people who are able to develop and implement a high impact safety and security action plan which will significantly reduce crime levels,” the letter continues.
The chief whip of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape, Yusuf Cassiem, also addressed a letter to new Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to urgently address crime in the metro.
“I write this letter after a 23-year-old, pregnant female was brutally gunned down in her own home, in Helenvale, on Saturday, 29 June 2024, after witnessing a gang-related shooting. It is our constitutional right to safety and security and to be protected. The people of the Northern Areas [a group of suburbs in the metro that is particularly heavily impacted by gang activity] sadly do not experience safety in their own homes and streets and can thus, never feel free.”
Some of the interventions proposed by the DA include doubling the number of members allocated to the local anti-gang unit; assigning additional detectives to the SAPS in the metro; deploying the SAPS National Intervention Unit/ Special Task Force in gang-ridden areas; strengthening crime intelligence; and increasing police visibility.
The letter also asks for the implementation of crime-fighting technology such as drones, CCTV cameras and shotspotter technology.
The kidnapping of Naidoo, who is a leading figure in efforts to turn around the economy in Nelson Mandela Bay, comes within a week of business leaders launching plans to strengthen investment in the metro.
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The Eastern Cape economy is in recession after a decline in three consecutive quarters.
Mchunu visited Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday amid great concern from business leaders, civil society and community members about rising crime levels in the metro. He met with police officers on Sunday afternoon and with community stakeholders on Sunday night. DM