State seizes cash from Zimbabwean nationals involved in student kidnapping

The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in the Western Cape has secured a forfeiture order against two Zimbabwean nationals.

The men were arrested in October 2024 after they allegedly kidnapped a Stellenbosch student and extorted R200,000 from her parents.

They were taken into custody the following day when police stopped their vehicle on the N2 near Groot Brakrivier, outside George.

On Thursday, the Western Cape High Court granted the AFU a preservation order for R89,000.

Truth Mambemba and Takudzwa Chauruka allegedly kidnapped a 20‑year‑old Stellenbosch University student near a nightclub on October 2, 2024. They reportedly drove her to the highway, where they threatened her with a firearm.

The suspects then phoned her father, and the young woman told her parents she had been kidnapped, urging her father to deposit money into her bank account.

The accused rejected her parents’ initial offer but later accepted the R200,000 that was paid and withdrew the money from various ATMs.

Police arrested the pair on the N2 near George, where they were found in possession of R89,000, as well as the student’s bank card and cellphone.

The case returns to court on 3 March.