Katlehong SAPS embarked on a massive community awareness campaign to warn Kathorus residents about the dangers of kidnapping and human trafficking.
According to the SAPS Katlehong media spokesperson, Constable Sivenkosi Mtwa, the campaign was prompted by the mysterious disappearance of a 60-year-old pensioner who seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.
The unexplained details surrounding this elderly Katlehong resident’s disappearance have not only left his family and loved ones anxious and worried about his whereabouts, but also left friends and neighbours in the community where he lived, puzzled.
Meanwhile, details of events leading up to the old man’s disappearance have also left the Katlehong SAPS detectives investigating the case, scratching their heads as they search for clues that could give them an indication of what happened to the ntate.”
In a statement from Mtwa, he said, the man’s family handed the case over to crime investigators, despite the somewhat disjointed details of the sequence of events presented to the Katlehong SAPS.
According to Mtwa, an unknown middle-aged African man walked into the charge office at the Katlehong Police Station one late evening in June. The man informed the officer on duty he wanted to report the disappearance of his 60-year-old father, who had not returned home as usual by 23:00.
The man further told the officer that earlier that night, he heard strange voices of people talking outside the house. Later, the same night, he again heard voices of unknown people talking outside.
The man further told the police officer at the charge office he then stepped outside to see who these people were talking to.
The man explained to the police officer on duty he found two unknown African men who introduced themselves as police officers outside the house. The two then informed him that his elderly father, Mr Talima, was arrested by the police for assault.
The two men further requested that the man and his elderly mother accompany them to the police station.
It is unclear what happened to the two at the police station, but according to Mtwa, the man further informed the officer he did not return home with his elderly mother on the same afternoon.
Mtwa adds that by divulging this information to the officer at the station, investigating detectives believe the man may be implying that after the drive with his mother and the two alleged police officers to the police station, his elderly mother was not with him on his way back home from the police station.
Later that evening, when the man is told that his mother has not returned home, the man sends his brother, Pule Talima, a school learner to check if their elderly grandparents are still at the police station.
The man explained he was surprised when his sibling informed him the police told him his grandparents were not at the police station and that the police officials denied knowing about the case.
Meanwhile, on his way back home, Talima, said he met with an acquaintance, Wandile, who assumed that his parents might have been kidnapped since it was well-known that his father who had just recently retired had received a large pension payout.
The man said Talima went back to school the next day, where he asked his teacher to call Nedbank and inquire about his missing father. According to the man who reported the matter to the police, the bank requested to be provided with the missing man’s ID before confirming that a transaction of an amount of R59 000 had been withdrawn from the old man’s account at the Naledi Mall in Vosloorus.
The family requested the bank to block the account before proceeding to the Ramokoniopi Police Station to open a case of kidnapping. However, several hours later that evening, the 60-year-old alleged victim came to the Police Station with a bruised face and confirmed that he had been kidnapped.
Upon being questioned by detectives, the pensioner told them he did not know who his kidnappers were, but he could identify them when he saw them.
Mtwa told Kathorus Mail that the detectives were working on the case and the suspects had not been arrested.
