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The surge of violent and organised crime in South Africa is getting out of hand, with kidnappings for ransom becoming a lucrative business.

According to a recent Statistics South Africa report, more than 16,000 kidnappings are recorded every year in the country, with an alarming 85% of the victims being women and children.

The South African Police Service’s (Saps) third-quarter crime statistics (October to December), showed kidnappings had increased by 11% to 4,577 cases over the three-month period, with 285 children and 1,135 women murdered as a result.

Gloria de Gee, director of Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre, an anti-human trafficking organisation which protects women and children, confirmed that a great number of victims of kidnapping were women and children, adding that the figures were concerning.

“The latest statistics highlight the urgent need for enhanced measures to protect vulnerable members of society,” she said. “Every abduction represents a tragic disruption of lives and communities, highlighting the urgent need for concerted action to ensure the safety and security of all citizens, particularly women and children.”

Alarmingly, Gee said more women and children are missing than the ones reported.

“They are kidnapped and trafficked as a commodity for different reasons, like sex, exploitation, organ transplant, slavery… and we have been calling for urgent attention to be given to our boarders and ports.”

Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said that these figures are a major concern of how far and wide the issue of organised crime is, per The Citizen.

“Kidnappings are on the increase and it is just one form of several other crime types, a bigger web we call money-making rackets.

“Most of them involve organised crime syndicates, some of them with international roots.

This worrying trend is bolstered by the fact that we are listed seventh in the world for organised crime activities.

The kidnapping figures in the report are linked to ransom demands, human trafficking or extortion.

He said there was a weakness in the police intelligence units, insisting on the need for a different approach to reduce incidents of kidnapping.

“The performance of both the police and crime intelligence units, as well as the state security agency, do not seem to be particularly effective as far as crime syndicates are concerned,” he said.

He mentioned that the detective service investigating organised crime should also be under the microscope for not managing to control this spate of organised crime.

“This creates space for these syndicates to manoeuvre and exploit the weaknesses that exist within the criminal justice system, and this is why we see these crimes increasing almost year on year,” he continued.

Bheki Cele needs to get out so that SAPS can step up before this becomes completely unmanageable.

[source:citizen]