A PRESS STATEMENT

 

A spate of kidnappings continues unabated with a report of a fresh abduction of an 11-year-old girl at a local school in Mayfair, on Wednesday morning. The Jamiatul Ulama South Africa (JUSA) condemns such criminal acts especially targeting children and causing great alarm, distress and nervousness in the community. We demand that the abductors let go the young girl and everyone held captive, so that they immediately reunite with their respective families.

 

A sense of insecurity that is being created by these kidnappings has a potential of adversely affecting productivity by paralyzing both commerce and ordinary lives of hard-working people. JUSA calls upon the authorities to stem this vicious tide of holding people against their will, with hallmarks of organised crime being perpetrated through ransoming, rendering everyone not safe.

 

Deterrence from such crimes requires that perpetrators are brought to book, thereby sending a clear signal that impunity will never be condoned in our society. JUSA therefore appeals to the community to cooperate with relevant crime-fighting agencies, in curtailing this phenomenon.

 

While it is our right to be protected by the state the corresponding duty is to ensure that we take reasonable care for our collective safety and security. In this month when we campaign against violence and abuse of women and children, let us dedicate ourselves to ensuring that no one has to go through such indignity, trauma and victimisation.

 

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those individuals who have been taken captive, wherever they are, across the country. We pray that they be safely reunited with their families.

 

Jamiatul Ulama South Africa
Johannesburg

 

14 Rabi al Thaani 1443 /  19 November 2021