SA police probe Durban-based Zim businessman disap...

SA police probe Durban-based Zim businessman disappearance

Zim Now Writer

Police in South Africa are investigating the disappearance of Durban-based Zimbabwean businessman, Evans Katumba, after his kidnappers failed to release him despite the payment of a R1.5m ransom.

Katumba, who reportedly relocated to South Africa a decade ago, was reportedly kidnapped by AK47-wielding attackers at a nightspot he had recently bought on March 24.

After Katumba’s disappearance last month, his kidnappers had demanded a R2.5 million ransom.

His family and friends reportedly then put together R1.5 million, which they were supposed to drop just in Ballito, a coastal town near Durban.

However, while the drop was made, the kidnappers did not release Katumba as promised.

“They demanded that one person should bring the money, and that police should not be involved. The money was dropped at an open field on the outskirts of Ballito, about 45 minutes from Durban.

“The kidnappers said they would release him after an hour, but that was the last communication they made.

“He was adamant that he would do everything his own way and that’s what he did. Some of us got concerned and we told him that his profile now requires that he has security at all times, but he decided against it.

“A week after he bought Yugo, there was an attempt to hijack him while driving his G63. He was stopped by a police car and an officer came to talk to him, before returning to the police car purportedly to check something,” a friend said.

Katumba, a fuel station worker turned fuel supplier, was reportedly the target of an attempted hijacking in December.

His plan to acquire Yugo, the nightclub from where he was snatched, is said to have put him in the crosshairs of some unsavoury characters in Durban.

He was reportedly receiving threats from people who told him that he is a foreigner and cannot own a club in Durban.

The Hawks, the SA police crack unit, are now reportedly investigating the matter.