A 43-year-old security guard thought he could turn his life around when he received a R1m payout from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) but it turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare that continues to haunt him and his family more than a year later.
The payout last year after a car accident a few years ago made him and his family a target for a gang of extortionists, resulting in three kidnapping incidents.
The guard, who has asked to remain anonymous, was first kidnapped in KwaMashu in February last year by a group of armed men shortly after receiving the payout.
“They wanted R90,000 but there was only R54,000 in my savings account, the rest was in a fixed account so they couldn’t access it. They let me go the next day without any physical harm,” he told the Sunday Times.
On May 2 he was accosted by a hitman who demanded double the R25,000 he had been paid to kill the guard — in exchange for not shooting him.
The hitman, Sosha, and his gang kidnapped the guard after he paid them the money. Working with a bank employee, they then transferred more than R770,000 from the guard’s fixed account to his savings account, and then to their accounts before letting him go.
I fear he might come looking for me and end up hurting everyone at home if he doesn’t find me
— 43-year-old security guard
Luckily, his wife realised he had been kidnapped again and called the bank to freeze his account, stopping the transfers.
“The bank told us R776,640 from my account had been spread around to almost 20 different accounts."
When Sosha learned the accounts had been frozen he threatened the guard and his wife on the phone, saying he would hurt the wife if they didn’t write an affidavit authorising the bank to unfreeze the accounts.
“He said he would send a policeman to me with an affidavit and I should then take it to the bank. But I told him even if I were to do that, I didn’t know into whose name the money should be transferred.”
The former security guard said that for the next three months Sosha continued to harass him and his wife until they went to her home in Inanda on September 20 to kidnap her. But the only people at her home were her cousin, a matric pupil, and her granny.
“Two men stormed the house, pointed a gun at me and tied me before dragging me to the bedroom,” the 73-year-old granny cried as she recounted the ordeal. “They took my granddaughter and sped off.”
Three men, including two bank employees, were apprehended — and the girl rescued — by a task team comprising the Hawks, crime intelligence, a district task team, Inanda detectives and hostage negotiators on September 22.
But Sosha remains at large, a fact which terrifies the family.
“I keep having nightmares about him. This man said he would keep looking for me and he sounded like he doesn’t make empty threats. I fear he might come looking for me and end up hurting everyone at home if he doesn’t find me,” the guard’s wife told the Sunday Times.
Hawks spokesperson Simphiwe Mhlongo said charges against one bank employee and another suspect were provisionally withdrawn after the victim failed to identify them in an ID parade.
One suspect, who is still in custody, will appear in the Ntuzuma magistrate’s court on September 4.
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