Crime Stats: Kempton Park is the kidnapping capital of SA
The Kempton Park police station saw a 14.7% increase in kidnapping cases to 125 between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019.
The teenager’s knees and face were scraped and bruised when she jumped out of the kidnapper’s moving vehicle. Photo: Facebook.
While Kempton Park is largely known for its industrial area and OR Tambo International Airport, it is also the kidnapping capital of South Africa, according to the 2018/19 crime statistics.
The Kempton Park police station saw a 14.7% increase in kidnapping cases to 125 between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019.
Other stations among those that recorded the most kidnapping cases in the same period are: Delmas in Mpumalanga (105 cases), Tembisa in Gauteng (88), Ivory Park in Gauteng (71), Kagiso in Gauteng (67), Kwamashu E in KZN (60), JHB Central in Gauteng (58), Mamelodi East in Gauteng (56) and Delft in the Western Cape (50). Moroka in Gauteng and Empangeni in KZN recorded 48 cases each.
Gauteng had the highest number of kidnapping cases but saw a decrease of 4.8%. KwaZulu-Natal was the next highest and also saw a decrease, of 5.1%. However, the Western Cape had a 4.7% increase and had the third highest number of cases.
The Eastern Cape saw 29.9% more kidnapping cases this year and Mpumalanga had 22.3% more cases.
A sample of cases in each province was looked at to determine causative factors.
The most common were robbery, rape/sexual assault, hijacking, domestic violence and ransom.
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