Africa-Press – South-Africa. It was 43 days of hell,” an emotional Ethiopian businessman said as he described his days being held for ransom by kidnappers.
The victim, Ephrem Fantahun, 35, described his painful ordeal at the hands of a group of heavily armed men who forced him from his car and took him against his will on 15 December last year.
Recalling his ordeal, Fantahun said he was driving home from work in a Mercedes-Benz Vito, along Eloff Street in Johannesburg.
“I was about to get on the freeway to Germiston when a Kia vehicle blocked my car. Another car stopped behind me, preventing me from reversing. Three men armed with rifles jumped out of the Kia, wearing black jackets and hats.”
He said the men pointed their guns at him while two came to the driver’s side of his vehicle.
“The other man kept his weapon pointing at me through the windscreen.”
He said:
Fantahun said one of the attackers jumped into his vehicle and drove his car.
“We didn’t drive for a long distance until we stopped. They started calling somebody, speaking in IsiZulu. A few minutes later, I heard another car arriving.”
“They covered my face with a dark cloth so I could not see where we were. They bound my hands with duct tape. They took me inside a car that resembled a police or security van and then they drove off again.”
Fantahun said the cloth did not cover his chin and he noticed two men sitting next to him in the back of the van.
The window of the van was covered with a blue material that is used in police or security vans.
“I remembered being shocked, thinking how they can use a police or security van to take me against my will. We then stopped at [a] second place. They bound my legs and carried me. We walked into a building I thought was a block of flats.
“They took me to a very dark place. Speaking in English, one of them said I had been kidnapped. He said I was the big fish. He warned me to cooperate if I wanted to live. He then demanded a R5 million ransom.”
Fantahun added that the torture started shortly afterwards.
“They covered me with a blanket, wrapped it with duct tape, and left. One of them gave me a phone to call my sister the following day. I claimed my sister was using a new number.”
He added:
He claimed the kidnappers managed to contact my sister, who later paid two ransoms – first R400 000 and secondly, between R400 000 and R300 000.
Fantahun claimed he was kept in Tembisa.
“I later realised that I was kept in Tembisa because they kept giving directions to various people about our location being in Tembisa.”
He said his attackers knew everything about his family.
“One of them fully described my mother back home. He mentioned all her businesses and properties in Ethiopia. They ordered me to call her, demanding she pays my ransom. They did their homework. I kept talking to my sister to influence our mother to pay them.”
Fantahun said his sister first opened a missing persons docket and then the case was later changed to kidnapping.
He added:
Fantahun was released on 26 January, after the ransom was paid. He was dropped off in a bush near Midrand and had to walk to a nearby filling station, where he was assisted, and his sister fetched him.
“It was 43 days of hell. I thought I wouldn’t see this day again. I survived on a few slices of bread and water. I was fed once a day. I even lost track of time. I was forced to soil myself as I was prevented from using the toilet,” Fantahun said.
Fantahun joined a crowd of Ethiopian nationals who protested outside the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday where a suspected kidnapping syndicate was appearing.
The crowd demanded the court not release Addis Tilahus, Dudu Selby Tsotetsi, Biyanm Daniwe, Willie Nkosi, Gift Nhlanhla Kotsholo and Thokozani Madala.
Tilahus and Daniwe are from Ethiopia.
The men were arrested after they allegedly kidnapped Ethiopian businessman Yassera Yordanos Tibed.
Tibed was kidnapped on 7 January at about 22:00, at an off-ramp near Kwa Mai Mai, Johannesburg.
He was rescued from an RDP house 12 days later by the police’s Special Task Force.
Fantahun claimed that the last person he spoke to minutes before he was kidnapped was Tilahus’ wife.
He claimed that Tilahus and his wife were close to his family in South Africa and back home.
He added that he was once close to Tilahus before they moved to Gauteng from the North West.
Tilahus’ wife survived an attack in Bedfordview on 21 February, when she was shot and wounded after dropping her child at a nursery school.
Her bodyguard was also wounded.
Second victim
Outside court, another Ethiopian businessman claimed his wife was released by her kidnappers after he had to pay a R100 000 ransom in 2021.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, claimed his wife had pointed out one of the six men who were appearing in court as being among her captors.
“My wife was kidnapped on 6 January 2021 in Edenvale after dropping off our children at a school. I later received a call from a man speaking in English claiming to be my worst enemy. He demanded R5 million before they could release my wife.
“He said her life was in their hands, and they could do what they wanted with her. They warned me not to report the matter. They threatened that they were following me. They mentioned all my businesses, my children’s identity and my residence.”
“I later negotiated with them, and they accepted my R100 000. They directed and followed me to where to drop off the money in a plastic bag. They later released my wife. The matter is with the police, who promised to do their best to bring a conviction,” he said.
The Ethiopian community in Johannesburg is outraged and fed up that they are being targeted by criminals who want to extort money.
Regarding the Fantahun kidnapping case, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed a case of kidnapping was opened by the sister of the victim, and the case was transferred to Provincial Organised Crime Investigation.
“The victim was found in Diepsloot by the community members. No arrests have been made yet, the investigation is continuing,” Mathe added.
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