Eight months before 38-year-old construction manager Victor Ngcobo was kidnapped near Gqeberha on Wednesday, his employers cancelled his 24-hour security detail at his request.
The Sunday Times visited the Eastern Cape this week, where sources close to Ngcobo spoke about deaths threats and a protection racket over the R3.5bn South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) project to upgrade the R335 road.
Now his kidnappers are demanding R10m for his return.
“There have been several issues between the contractors and community members over job opportunities,” a source close to the contactor told the Sunday Times.
“There isn’t a business forum but a project liaison community — or PLC. This is a board consisting of 24 community members put together by Sanral.
“The contractors have a community participation goal (CPG) of 30% community participation in the project, as prescribed. This CPG has to be approved by the PLC, and this is where the issues arise. Now you have people from the community deciding which parts of the project have to go to the community. They also have the inside lane on tender dates and specifications, and so on,” the source said.
Ngcobo was the construction manager for phase 1 of the ongoing improvement of the R335 between Motherwell and Addo.
“Like most construction projects in South Africa, this one was beset by all kinds of contractors and tenderpreneurs from the surrounding community. Victor tended to be on the sharp end as the man engaging with these people,” the source said.
“At face value, community participation is a great system, because the contractors upskill the locals and train them. But it also opens the door to crooks who want to manipulate matters in a corrupt fashion.”
In August last year, matters took a disturbing turn.
“There was a senior community member who told Victor he could make all the contractors’ problems go away if he was paid R400,000 in monthly protection money. The offer was not accepted, and on August 1 Victor and some of his colleagues found all their signs next to the road sawn off and vandalised. They also found the dead body of an unknown man. This was a message: pay up or there will be serious consequences.”
Ngcobo’s employers immediately hired armed security.
“He had two armed and trained protection officers at his side day and night. After about three months, he told his bosses to cancel the guards. I suspect it was cramping his style in his dealings with the community,” the source said.
Every time the phone rings, I wait in fear to hear if it is about him, and then if it is good or bad news.
— Nene Ngcobo, Victor Ngcobo’s wife
Two weeks before Ngcobo was kidnapped, the phase 2 construction manager — whose name is known to the Sunday Times — also ran into trouble.
Another source said: “This manager went home for the weekend and returned on Sunday night. On Monday morning he did a site inspection and was accosted by gun-wielding thugs. They pointed a gun at him but let him go.
“By 11am on Tuesday, the manager still had not reported for duty, and when people went looking for him at the place where he was staying all his clothes were gone and he had left his work laptop neatly in the middle of the bed. Since then he hasn’t answered calls from anyone at the company,” the second source told the Sunday Times.
On Wednesday morning, Ngcobo did a site inspection ahead of an important meeting with all stakeholders.
“He took a colleague’s bakkie and drove to a stretch of the R335. Two of the flag ladies said he was standing next to the bakkie, which was parked on the shoulder of the road, when a charcoal Mercedes-Benz drove past, made a U-turn, and then drove past again, before making a final U-turn and stopping behind the bakkie.
“The ladies said two men exited the Merc and approached Victor from behind. One of them looked as if he was trying to hug him, but Victor wriggled free and pushed him away. The other man then pulled out a pistol and they took him,” the source said.
Vehicle-tracking company Tracker contacted the bakkie’s owner to alert him that the vehicle was parked in an out-of-the-ordinary place in Motherwell.
The bakkie was found, but there was no sign of Ngcobo or the R20,000 in cash he had on him.
Another insider said the police anti-gang unit and the Hawks had since become involved.
“On Friday, one of the kidnappers called Victor’s employers for the first time. He was very aggressive and shouty, demanding a ransom of R10m. Negotiations are ongoing,” the source told the Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, Ngcobo spent his 38th birthday on Saturday and Father’s Day away from his wife, Nene, 33, and their two children.
Yesterday, a heartbroken Nene told the Sunday Times from Johannesburg, where she works, she felt powerless.
“The last time I saw my husband was on the weekend of June 2, which was my birthday weekend. It breaks my heart we couldn’t see him on his birthday or Father’s Day.”
“We were married in 2018, but we have been together since 2008. We have two children, a 12-year-old boy and a three-year-old daughter. Our daughter even made him a card. She drew what looks like a strawberry [actually a slice of watermelon] and wrote, ‘Dad, you are one in a melon.’ Now she can’t give it to him. We did not tell the kids about the kidnapping, but my son found out about it on Friday when the media reported on what had happened. We will have to send him for therapy,” a tearful Nene said.
“I am powerless. I am struggling to cope. Every time the phone rings, I wait in fear to hear if it is about him, and then if it is good or bad news. My heart can’t stand this. I spent last night with my mother-in-law. She is also trying to stay strong, but I don’t know for how long we can keep it up.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.