For six hours kidnappers continually beat Shahadat Hossain (28) with his own belt, while he became increasingly weaker from a gunshot wound he had sustained earlier.
Hossain became the latest victim in a spate of kidnappings currently happening all over the Goldfields.
Between 20 and 30 foreigners, as well as a South African, are among the victims.
Hossain was abducted on Thursday, 28 April, at 20:20 and dropped off outside Welkom at 02:30 on the Friday morning.
Hossain’s cousin, and two leaders of the local Bangladeshi community, Isaque Lalmiah and Foyez Ullah, negotiated with the kidnappers for hours. At around 02:00 they placed a ransom of R50 000 under a bridge, between Bronville and Thabong.
The three men say the moment the ransom was paid, they were called and told to pick up Hossain at a mine outside Welkom.
Hossain was admitted to the RH Matjhabeng Private Hospital and was operated on to remove the bullets.
His medical expenses amount to R125 000.
He was shot in his right elbow and the bullet then also hit him in the stomach.
A second shot hit him in the thigh.
He says one of his attackers shot him from behind while he was in his bakkie.
“He pushed me out of the seat and over to the left, while more people got into the back of the bakkie. They then drove off with me.”
Hossain was detained for hours at a railway line near Virginia, before being dropped off after the ransom was paid.
“God gave me another life,” he said when he spoke to Netwerk24 on Wednesday.
He was in extreme discomfort due to the gunshot wounds as he sat on a chair outside a shop in Welkom.
“The longer we waited, the more they hit me.”
In the previous week, two store owners were abducted from Virginia and the week before that, a store owner from Odendaalsrus was abducted.
Lalmiah and Ullah, who have been in South Africa for more than 20 years, say in April nine Bangladeshis, five Ethiopians, three Pakistani citizens and one Indian were abducted.
As leaders, Lamiah and Ullah’s help is called in during the kidnappings.
The abducted men are all part of the local Muslim community.
“Two of them were shot and the rest were so badly beaten with sjamboks that they had to be taken to hospital,” says Lalmiah.
“We are very worried, and our community is scared,” says Ullah.
They believe the kidnapping gangs consist of South Africans and citizens of Lesotho and that ten to 12 people are involved in the kidnappings.
The kidnappers not only get away with the ransom, they rob everything the victim has with him.
Hossain’s expensive jacket, his wallet and his cellphone were taken from him.
Police have not yet located his bakkie, but the other victims’ vehicles were recovered.
Ullah says the kidnappers mostly use expensive luxury vehicles when they collect the ransoms, and they are well informed.
“We have spoken to the police’s top management – we can only humbly ask that they do more to protect us,” says Ullah.
“We have been used to armed robberies for a long time, but this is a new thing. A special police unit is needed.”
Police have confirmed that kidnappings in the Northern Free State have risen sharply and say some of the kidnappers have been arrested.
According to Capt. Stephen Thakeng, spokesperson for the SAPS in Lejweleputswa, three people including a foreign female have been arrested for kidnapping Hossain.
He says a fourth suspect fled with the R50 000 ransom. Thakeng could not confirm how many kidnappings there have been in recent times.
He pushed me out of the seat and over to the left, while more people got into the back of the bakkie – Shahadat Hossain
