Six-year-old Shanawaaz Asghar was snatched on the corner of 4th and 9th Avenue, Kensington in Cape Town on Wednesday 17 August, just before 8 am, as he was leaving home to walk to Hidayatul Islam Primary School with his mother and siblings. Two getaway cars were identified fleeing the scene with six men – three of which were reportedly armed.
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Shanawaaz Asghar has since been found. Chairperson of Kensington CPF Cheslyn Steenberg confirmed Asghar’s safe return and urged the community to continue their involvement in assisting with community policing.
“We can only thank the almighty for the safe return of Shanawaaz. I would like to thank everyone involved in this regard, it is appreciated. Now we have more work to do. Communities must do more to help community policing – working with the law enforcement agencies and not taking a step back. We all have a part to play in the quest for a safer Kensington and Factreton, let us stand up and take back our community from criminals.”
Also Read: Shanawaaz Asghar update: Safe and Reunited with family
Shanawaaz’s father, Muhammad Asghar details an agonising 48 hours of negotiating with the kidnappers who assured him that Shanawaaz was being looked after.
He said, “We did not sleep, we did not eat, we just prayed. Right now all we can do is thank the community and everyone who helped share the posts and prayed for us.”
“The first day they called, he said he was playing, and the second day he said ‘daddy you can come fetch me now. I knew that I had to make a plan.”
Asghar made arrangements to collect his son on Thursday evening, 18 August, being very careful to follow the kidnapper’s instructions.
“I can’t exactly say where I drove to because I don’t know the townships very well. I know Mitchells Plain because of a garage there, but it wasn’t there because the place I drove to was very dark and had no lights.
“I told them I am driving a white bakkie, and then they flashed their lights to say when to stop.
“When I stopped they were standing with him (outside), they didn’t just leave him on the side of the road and he was clean.
“They took my cellphone before I left, probably because they were scared I would call the police. But I wouldn’t because all I wanted was my son.”
No ransom was confirmed to be paid, however, sources close to the investigation said that there was an initial R500 000 demand which was later reduced to R300 000.
Shanawaaz Asghar is doing well and is currently attending counselling.
National coordinator for Missing Children South Africa, Bianca van Aswegen, says incidents of opportunistic kidnapping are escalating “daily” in South Africa.
She also says there has been a rise in kidnappings for ransom and human trafficking since the national lockdown in 2020 due to poverty and job loss.
Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagen Allen said the fourth quarter crime statistics showed that kidnappings have increased by 16 more cases or 8.3% when compared to the same period of the previous year.
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Picture: Facebook
