Kidnap and ransom on the rise in South Africa

South African kidnappers are increasingly targeting wealthy or high profile individuals, forcing companies and individuals to become more pro-active in combating the crime.

Wally Thom, a consultant at Guardrisk Allied Products and Services, a division of Guardrisk Insurance Company, part of the Alexander Forbes Group, says that “increasingly in South Africa wealthy individuals or business executives and their families are targeted for ransoms of anywhere between R100,000 and several million Rand.” Smaller-scale kidnappings are also common in South Africa. These involve the kidnap of children from upmarket schools, usually held for fairly short periods and for ransom demands of between R20,000 and R40,000. These kidnappings generally go unreported, with parents preferring to simply pay up and get their child back. Express Kidnappings, involving a small ransom demand, paid quickly and easily by the company or family, is also now widespread in South Africa “with victims driven to an ATM to withdraw cash, or held at home while the kidnappers drive to a cash-point to withdraw money, after which the victim is released” says Thom.

Despite up to 70% of all kidnaps and ransoms never being reported, it is currently estimated that 2009 saw 30 000 kidnappings globally. This is an approximately 15% increase on 2008. 2010 figures are expected to increase yet again.

“The first step in managing kidnapping is getting the right advice” says Thom. In short, working with professionals who understand how it works, where it happens and how kidnappers behave, is crucial to surviving kidnap as an individual or managing it as an organisation.

Since 2001, Colombia, Mexico and more recently Baghdad have shared the title ‘kidnap capital of the world’. But with kidnap and ransom no longer a crime that happens far away, most South African companies have had to develop strategies that anticipate the kidnap of key employees and their family members while maintaining business continuity. As such, “many local companies have found themselves, for the first time, having to deal with local or international kidnappers, law enforcement agencies, relevant governments and the media” says Thom.

Based on its extensive experience in insurance for kidnap and ransom locally and globally, Guardrisk Allied Products and Services has developed a kidnap and ransom policy that helps companies send executives and employees abroad, manage businesses overseas or conduct business in high-risk areas like Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, including reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.