IT IS only seven seconds – but it’s one of the most gruesome clips you will ever see.
Kidnappers tortured a man with an angle grinder while recording a video.
For his release, the kidnappers are demanding R150 000. Sabelo Shabalala (33) from Brookdale in Phoenix, north of Durban, was kidnapped near Dube Village in Inanda on 5 August. This was after the occupants of three vehicles stopped a Tata Indica that Sabelo and two friends were travelling in.
Reaction Unit South Africa spokesman Prem Balram said the armed suspects drove Shabalala and his friends in the Tata to Bhambayi near Phoenix where his friends managed to flee.
“According to his friends, the suspects were armed,” he said. Balram said the friends later returned with cops and recovered the abandoned car.
He said Shabalala’s family thereafter received the seven-second clip of him being tortured with panel beating equipment. He said the demands continued for four days but then stopped.
“The family have not heard from the kidnappers since. A case of kidnapping has been registered with the police,” he said. Balram has urged anyone with information regarding Shabalala’s whereabouts to kindly contact Rusa on 086 123 4333.
KZN police spokeswomen Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo confirmed Inanda cops are probing a case of kidnapping.
