Four men arrested in KZN after kidnapping teen for marriage

With the New Year, so comes new crime. IOL reports that members from Public Order Policing (POP) in Durban arrested four men for kidnapping an 18-year-old woman in Bergville. The POP were conducting crime prevention operations when they stopped a silver Renault.

Colonel Thembeka Mbhele spoke to IOL about the incident.

“There were four men and one woman inside the vehicle. The woman,18, was sitting in the back seat, between two of the men. Police noticed that the woman was upset. All occupants were asked to step out of the vehicle and the woman was taken aside and interviewed. She reported to the police that on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, while visiting her sister at Maphumulo near Kranskop, she was approached by the suspects who forced her into their vehicle and brought her to Bergville in order to marry one of the suspects,” explained Mbhele.

The men are aged 28, 37,38 and 42. All were charged with kidnapping and are set to appear in the Bergville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. After that initial appearance, the docket will be sent to Maphumulo Police Station for further investigation.

The officers have also been commended for their swift actions when rescuing the woman. Major General Bheki Langa, the  KwaZulu-Natal Acting Provincial Commissioner, was happy to praise their “alertness”.

“I thanked the members for their alertness that led to the arrest of the suspects. We cannot tolerate people who are allegedly kidnapping women with the intention of forcing them to marry these criminals. There is no place for ukuthwala (kidnapping) in our society anymore,” said Langa.

While this branch of the KZN police seems to be acting quickly, the City of Johannesburg has also recently made a change at the top with their Metro Police.

Wednesday saw Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba announce that David Tembe had been appointed as the chief of the  Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).

You can read more about that story here.