THE kidnapped and well known Ugandan comedian and Glenanda resident, Norman Nsubuga, known by his stage name Phillip Ganja, was found robbed and lost in a Northern suburb by police.
Ganja and his brother were found abandoned by kidnappers at Balfour Mall just after they had been robbed of R25 000. The exact amount stolen from the comedian and his brother is still unknown, as Ganja had withdrawn R5 000 at The Glen Shopping Centre before the kidnapping ordeal.
Phillip Ganja is better known for his appearances on e-tv’s comedy Late Night News with Loyiso Gola.
The men who are new to Johannesburg from Cape Town didn’t even know where they were where when asked by police. They had initially been held hostage in Alexandra township before they were taken to the bank for the withdrawal of the money.
The comedian is suspected to have been followed from The Glen Shopping Centre, where he had been before making his way to a nearby Fruit and Veg in Comaro Crossing, thereafter filling his car with petrol.
Ganja had been with his brother Charles Nsubunga as they made their rounds in the South. Just as he pulled up to his driveway on Vorster Avenue a white bakkie blocked his black Mercedes Benz.
“When I looked in the mirror I saw a car behind me,” explained Ganja in The Star Newspaper. The armed kidnappers were travelling in the bakkie.
Two gun-wielding men pulled Ganja and his brother out of their vehicle, pinning them to the ground. Thereafter, they were ordered to get into the back of Ganja’s Mercedes Benz and put their heads down, while the men had guns pointed at their heads.
Ganja said he realised the men had been following him when one of the armed men demanded his pin code and all the money he had on him.
Mondeor SAPS Spokesperson, Sibongile Mnguni, revealed: “At about 12:50 on February 20, two brothers by the names of Norman Nsubuga (38), alias Phillip Ganja, and Charles Nsubaga (39) were driving from The Glen Shopping Centre; upon entering their house on Vorster Avenue, Glenanda they were approached by two black males driving a White Bantam bakkie who pointed firearms at them, pushing them into the back of the Mercedes Benz with registration number BG31GM GP and driving off with them.”
The kidnappers gave Ganja a pair of black Hi-Tec sandals and cleaned him up, dusting off the dirt that had gotten on his clothes during the kidnapping. They told him that they needed him to look nice when he went to get their money, although they still had guns pointed at their heads. They had threatened to shoot and kill Ganja’s brother should he not cooperate with them and give in to their demands.
The suspects also had their accomplices according to their cell phone conversations, as they drove to their hideout in Alexandra Township.
The first bank that Ganja was taken to in Alexandra did not keep enough money to provide the R30 000 demanded. While the suspects made their rounds trying to find a bank that would allow Ganja to withdraw the money demanded, they were calling their girlfriends telling them they had goodies on the way and stopping at shops to purchase condoms.
Ganja said that while he feared for their lives the suspects were planning a party on their phones. When they arrived at the second bank, the teller asked “what’s wrong” when she noticed Ganja crying. “I have family problems,” he responded.
A R25 000 deposit was granted, and the suspects abandoned the comedian and his brother in a side street in Balfour after a six-hour ordeal. No suspects have been arrested. The police is investigating the case.
