Pretoria - The Nkangala District Municipality manager, Maggie Skosana, who was kidnapped a week ago with her driver Gugu Mtsweni, and set free on Wednesday night, said during the capture ordeal she did not know whether she would live or die at the hands of the abductors.
The two women who were abducted in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, were found on Thursday morning near Diepsloot in Gauteng.
Speaking to broadcaster eNCA, Skosana said the experience was “quite traumatic.”
“It is quite traumatic, because you are under this power of these people and you do not know whether they would release you, or they will kill you. You just have faith that once they are done with whatever they want to do, they should be able to release you, for you to join your kids,” she said.
“I kept on reminding them that I still have small kids that still need their mother to look after them.”
Skosana’s husband, Vusi, told the broadcaster the kidnappers demanded a ransom, but the family did not pay.
He said he could not divulge how much was demanded by the kidnappers. He said the family was not aware of the reported R5 million ransom cited in media reports.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said it was alleged that both victims were dumped by their assailants in the bushes near the N14 in Diepsloot.
“It is said that the driver was tied with some ropes but she somehow managed to manoeuvre herself to the road. A taxi driver saw her as she was looking for help. She related the story to the taxi driver who immediately informed the police.”
Mdhluli said the police went to the bushes where they found the municipal manager.
“After going to Diepsloot police station, the two victims were taken to hospital and later reunited with their families in the early hours of this morning on Thursday, 27 October, 2022,” he said.
Police said the kidnappers had not been arrested.
Mdhluli said the women were attacked by men in a white sedan at the gates of the municipality before they could drive into the premises.
He said both vehicles were seen driving away, one behind the other.
“Soon after the incident was reported, the provincial commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, immediately assembled resources, then established an investigation team consisting of experts in the field of investigation to ensure that the two victims were brought back safe and alive,” he said.
Mdhluli said the victims’ vehicle was recovered on the day of the kidnapping. It had been abandoned at a Middelburg mine.
The municipal manager’s wheelchair as well as other property of the victims were recovered, together with the abandoned vehicle, he said.
IOL
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